Labour Council condemns Ontario Government’s Bill 47 as doorway to worker abuse
On October 23rd , Bill 47 - an Act to amend the Employment Standards Act, the Labour Relations Act and the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act - was introduced at Queen’s Park. Some of the wealthiest corporations located in Ontario got an early holiday gift from the Ford Conservative government, with legislation that dramatically rolls back workers’ rights and stops a much needed dollar an hour increase for over a million low-wage workers in Ontario.
Bill 47 repeals many of the gains won by working families under the previous government. The Conservatives are eliminating:
- equal pay for people who do the same job for temp agencies or as part-timers
- restrictions on misclassifying workers
- up to ten days emergency leave
- scheduling protection
- easier access to unionization for workers
- protection from being fired after 6 months of a strike or lockout
- minimum wage rising to $15 on January 1, 2019
As well, they are drastically reducing fines for companies that break the law.
“If you run a billion-dollar company like Walmart, McDonalds, or Tim Hortons, you just got one sweet deal from Doug Ford. If you run a temp agency, you get to pay poverty wages as your business model. But if you work for a living in this province, odds are that someone in your family just got screwed. The big boys are certainly cheering today.” said John Cartwright, President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.
The Toronto and York Region Labour Council is a central labour body that combines the strength of over 150 local unions representing 205,000 women and men and who work in every sector of the economy.
