“Workers on the frontlines of our retail, wholesale, gaming, warehousing and broader service sectors who are paid a fraction of their worth will see this increase directly,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “I’m glad this government has reversed course and has now decided to raise workers’ wages.”

Unifor National President Jerry Dias joined Premier Doug Ford, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton, and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy at the announcement at the Unifor Local 414 and 462 offices in Milton, Ontario today.

The provincial government announced legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour on January 1, 2022, eliminate the lower rate for liquor servers, and adjust additional special minimum wages including student, homeworker, and hunting and fishing guides.

The proposed legislation stops short of a full reversal of the sweeping changes to labour laws that the Ford government passed using Bill 47 in 2018, including scrapping scheduled minimum wage increases and the elimination of paid sick days.

Thousands of Unifor members making above minimum wage will see a 4-4.5% wage increase because of the proposed legislation, including 7,000 retail grocery chain workers. This gain stems from Unifor’s groundbreaking collective agreements in retail and service sectors that include wage language tied to minimum wage, referred to as minimum wage plus.

“That provision, alone, will drive up wages of our members who work at many of the provinces’ largest retail store chains,” continued Dias. “Unifor bargains this language for members in sectors where workers are universally undervalued so that they always stay a step ahead when the minimum wage goes up. This $15 an hour promise will raise the floor, but Ontario can, and must do better to deliver living wages to all workers.”

A November 1, 2021 report by the Ontario Living Wage Network released an updated list of living wage thresholds in various regions of the province, ranging from $16.20 in London to $22.08 in Halton.

October 22, 2021
Via: Email

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
pm@pm.gc.ca

RE: Advancing a program for Canada’s fair, resilient and inclusive recovery

Dear Prime Minister,

As you consider the key priorities that will guide the work of incoming Cabinet ministries under Canada’s 44th parliament, I want to impress upon you the importance of delivering for working people who continue to battle their way through this pandemic.

Despite critical progress made to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on public health so far, and investments made to keep Canada’s economy afloat, this extraordinary period is not yet behind us. Transmission rates differ across the country, forcing some governments to re-impose local restrictions. There are ongoing threats that a Delta-driven fourth wave pose to hospital ICU capacities. Workers, in key sectors and those in precarious jobs, are still facing challenges. Your decision this week to prematurely end recovery benefit supports is creating panic and uncertainty, and should be reversed.

Perhaps most concerning is the insufficient access to vaccine and vaccine production capacity across the globe that continues to hinder efforts to slow the virus and potential new variants. Some of the poorest countries in the world have vaccination rates barely at two percent of their eligible population. Our union subscribes to the view that this pandemic cannot be over for anyone until it is over for everyone – a mantra we hope guides your government’s action in the months ahead, including your support for the proposed TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization. Canada must help those in need, in every way possible, as an act of true global solidarity.

The direction you set for your incoming Cabinet must reflect a sober, cautious, and realistic view of the state of this crisis. I agree with your public statements that Canada has done a better job than most at tackling the crisis within our borders. Canada’s vaccination rate is high. The economy is bouncing back. To pretend that the virus is in any way defeated, however, and to have such a false view drive haphazard legislative and regulatory decisions, will undo much of the progress made to date. On this front, Canada must stay the course.

Your government committed to ‘Build Back Better’ from this crisis. That requires an ongoing commitment to engage actively and progressively in building a fairer, more just economy. That also requires a demonstration of courage to confront long-standing practices that prevent workers from benefitting from economic growth.

The effectiveness of Canada’s response so far is reflected in the government’s willingness to consult with stakeholders, all stakeholders, including unions on key decisions.  In many respects, Canada’s success is a testament to a model of collaboration you previously mandated your Cabinet ministers to follow. I anticipate a similar approach among the representatives of your next Cabinet, and encourage you to impress upon each minister to consider an inclusive, gender-based and worker-centered analysis to guide policy decision-making.

Through this past election campaign, important ideas surfaced from progressive parties. Unifor believes there is fertile ground for a more progressive agenda to flourish in this next minority parliament, informed through strategic collaboration and common purpose.

As ministerial mandate letters are drafted, I ask that you consider the following items to form part of the government’s priorities as Parliament reconvenes.

• Take swift action to extend paid personal leave under the Canada Labour Code to 10 days for federally-regulated workers, and initiate dialogue with provinces towards legislating paid sick days in all jurisdictions.
• Introduce legislation, in the first sitting of Parliament, to create a fairer collective bargaining system by expressly prohibiting the use of replacement workers by employers during a labour dispute.
• Immediately announce funding commitments for a national pharmacare program that is comprehensive public, universal, accessible and portable, as well as a national formulary.
• Undertake to work in partnership with provinces and territories to establish minimum long-term care standards of daily care and a comprehensive strategy to improve working conditions.
• Establish a Just Transition Ministry and Just Transition Fund, partially financed through levies on large industrial emitters, with the mandate to support workers affected by climate-related job displacements through enhanced income insurance, pension bridging, severance pay, retraining and relocation support, and local just transition centres.
• Ensure foreign-based online streaming firms contribute to Canadian content in media, and that digital platforms like Facebook and Google pay for news content created by Canadian news outlets.
• Commit, within the first 100 days of Parliament, to end the ongoing boil water advisories in all Indigenous communities and ensuring that all Indigenous communities have access to safe and clean drinking water.
• Develop a trade adjustment assistance program that enhances labour market supports for trade-impacted workers.
• Provide sufficient resources to the Pay Equity Commissioner and Pay Equity Unit to ensure smooth and effective implementation of the Act, including staffing of officers to provide mediation, conciliation and alternative dispute resolution services.
• Support the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force with timely implementation of  improvements to the legislation, and better enforcement of current legislation in the meantime.

Prime Minister, our union looks forward to ongoing, constructive dialogue on these and other priority matters, and anticipates a positive response outlined in your mandate letters.

We also look forward to your government delivering on previous commitments, and initiatives currently underway, that address critical needs for workers including fair, inclusive and permanent changes to Canada’s Employment Insurance system as well as finalizing child care funding agreements with all provinces and territories.

By delivering on these measures we can continue to Build Back Better from this pandemic and ensure a fair and inclusive economic recovery is available to all workers in Canada.

Sincerely,

Jerry Dias
Unifor National President

“This is good news for long-term care residents. After decades of inaction and the terrible reality of lives lost in the pandemic, a comprehensive change was needed, and this new Act aims to answer some of those major demands,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Unifor is encouraged to see this Act introduced, but that doesn’t mean we will stop pushing this government to move up the timelines and improve conditions of work for members.”

The new act, tabled today in the provincial legislature, establishes 3 hours of direct care by March 31, 2022, scaling up annually to 4 hours of direct care by March 31, 2025. In addition, it establishes minimum average hours of care by allied health professionals to an average of 33 minutes per day by March 31, 2022, and 36 minutes per day by March 31, 2023.

The Ministry would be required to report annually on progress, and to make LTC home-specific data available to the public.

The Union is concerned that the Act does not include amendments to labour standards including full-time jobs or proxy pay equity for LTC workers, who remain grossly underpaid and currently face precarious, physically demanding jobs.

“If passed, this is the first time we will see minimum standards of care written into law in Ontario,” continued Dias. “That victory for LTC workers cannot be overlooked or understated. However, government must back up this new Act with better working conditions in order to draw people back to the sector and achieve the minimum hours of care that are now required.”

The new act also identifies new requirements for infection prevention and control (IPAC). Importantly, the Act intends to amend enforcement to allow the Minister to suspend a licence and have a LTC supervisor installed without revoking a license and closing a home.

The union intends to provide detailed feedback to government and participate in upcoming consultations to represent LTC workers’ rights and well-being. Unifor engaged in the recent Long-Term Care Commission and made recommendations at every possible stage, including additional independent and joint union lobbying, budget recommendations, and other pressures on government.

“Unifor will review every aspect of this proposed legislation in detail in the coming days, but today we congratulate every LTC worker who has made their voice heard and campaigned to improve conditions in LTC in this province. Your work is valuable, and your voices are strong,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director.

Unifor has long called for a minimum standard of care to be enshrined into law in Ontario and across the country, along with improved conditions of work for all in the sector, and the elimination of for-profit operators.

Over the past 10 years, a journalist is killed every four days and nine out of 10 killings go unpunished.

Killing a journalist is the ultimate form of censorship, and many more journalists around the world face kidnappings, torture, violence and harassment.

In Afghanistan, such violence and intimidation are reaching new heights, including widespread reports of journalists being killed as the Taliban took control of the country. Unifor is working tirelessly with other journalism organizations, including Journalists for Human Rights and the International Federation of Journalists, to get journalists and other media workers out of the country.

It doesn’t stop there.

Today online harassment and violence, specifically targeting women and racialized journalists, is occurring at an alarming and increasing rate.

This abuse takes many forms, including misogyny, racism, sexism, homophobia, harassment, sexual harassment, violent threats, cyberstalking, doxing, trolling, gaslighting and misinformation. Threats of violence against the journalists and their families – including infant children – are all-too common.

Such deliberate acts are meant to bully journalists into silence, trying and failing to intimidate them from doing their jobs or covering the stories that people who perpetuate this violence don’t like.

Politicians such as former U.S. President Donald Trump and People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier have even encouraged such behaviour, taking the harassment of journalists to an entirely new and disturbing level.

This can be tolerated no longer. For many years, reporters were told they just needed a thicker skin and should learn to live with the hate mail they received. It could even be part of the dark humour so common in newsrooms.

No longer. Journalists around the world, including here in Canada, have faced this abuse long enough. As more women and racialized workers joined newsrooms, the abuse targeting journalists has increased.

It is time for action. The journalists themselves are speaking out, and the media organizations they work for are beginning to address the issue in a real way, thanks in large part to the work of journalists and their unions.

All workers can and must do more.

Unifor is creating a plan that engages members and works in collaboration with a coalition of allies including the Canadian Association of Journalists to put an end to this abuse. Discussion, training, broad-based engagement, a concerted lobby effort to hold online platforms accountable for the content published on their websites and an enhanced support system for those who this violence will be the cornerstone of our approach to combat these issues.

Journalism is at the heart of our democracy. Attempts to silence it are nothing less than an attempt to thwart democracy itself – and cannot be tolerated.