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FAQ on Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit

Download here

Due to the rapidly changing circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and its impact on workers, program support criteria are subject to change. Be sure to visit www.unifor.org/covid19 to download updated versions of this
fact sheet.

Note: On February 19, 2021, the federal government announced proposed legislative and regulatory changes that would increase the number of weeks of benefits available for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), and Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2021/02/crb-extension.html

Please note that the new temporary paid sick leave measures only apply to workers covered by Ontario’s Employment Standards Act and does not cover federally regulated workers in sectors such as telecommunications, rail, and airlines, etc. who already have access to three days of paid sick leave under the Canada Labour Code.”

On April 29, 2021, the Government of Ontario passed legislation mandating that employers provide employees with paid sick leave under the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit. The program entitles workers to take up to three days of paid sick leave at up to $200 per day in wages, if they are:

  • going for a COVID-19 test or staying home awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test
  • sick with COVID-19
  • advised to self-isolate due to COVID-19 by an employer, medical practitioner or other authority
  • going to get vaccinated or recovering from vaccination side-effects
  • taking care of a dependent who is:
    • sick with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19
    • self-isolating due to COVID-19
    • getting vaccinated or recovering from vaccination side-effects

These temporary measures, referred to as ‘infectious disease emergency leave pay’, will be retroactive to April 19, 2021 and will end on September 25, 2021.

This FAQ document aims to provide Unifor members with the most up to date answers we have on frequently asked questions about Ontario’s temporary paid sick leave measures.

If I already have paid sick leave as part of my current collective agreement or employment contract, will I get an additional three days of paid sick days?

No – you will be topped up to three days of paid sick leave if you have one or two days of paid sick leave under your current employment contract. Any workers who already have three or more days of paid sick leave will not be covered by the new paid sick leave measures.

What if I have to take more than three days of sick leave? Can I continue to take sick leave for as long as I am ill or for other reasons related to COVID-19?

Yes – employees are currently entitled to take unpaid sick leave under Ontario’s infectious disease emergency leave measures, which allows workers to take unpaid sick leave for reasons related to COVID-19 without fear of reprisal or dismissal by their employers.

If I take unpaid sick leave after my three days of paid sick leave, can I apply for compensation through the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)?

Only if the unpaid sick days fall within a one-week period during which you received no paid sick days. Unfortunately, the current CRSB rules do not allow you to apply for the CRSB for days that fall within a week when you received paid leave from your employer.

For example, if you were ill all week and took paid sick leave from Monday to Wednesday, you would not be eligible to be compensated through the CRSB for any unpaid leave taken on Thursday and Friday. Any days of unpaid sick leave taken the following week would be eligible for the CRSB.

Will I need a sick note to prove to my employer that I was absent for reasons related to COVID-19?

Employers cannot ask you for a sick note or medical certificate from a nurse or doctor to prove that you were eligible for sick leave (whether paid or unpaid), but may require you to provide ‘evidence reasonable in the circumstances’, which is determined on a case-by-case basis. Examples include a printout or screenshot of information issued by a public health official advising quarantine/self-isolation or a copy of an order to self-isolate. For more information, please refer to the province’s infectious disease emergency leave information.

What if I take a few hours off from work to get vaccinated? Will my paid sick leave only apply to the hours I am absent from work?

Under the paid sick leave legislation, taking part of a day counts as taking a full day of leave. In other words, if you only take a few hours from work for vaccination or any other COVID-19 related reason, you are considered to have taken a full paid day of sick leave.

I make less than $200 a day. What will my employer pay me if I take sick days under these new measures?

If you make less than $200 a day, you will be paid your regular wages for the day, not including any overtime that would have otherwise been paid.

I make more than $200 a day. Is my employer required to pay me my full wages for the day if I take sick leave under these new measures?

No – employers are only obligated to pay up to $200 per day for any days of sick leave taken under the new measures. Your employer may elect to pay you more, but the maximum amount they can be reimbursed by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is $200 per day.

I earn part of my pay from tips and/or commissions. Will the paid sick leave measures cover what I usually earn from these sources?

No – the paid sick leave measures will only cover your base wages.

I work as a freelancer and/or independent contractor. Am I covered by this new program?

No – the legislation implementing the program only applies to individuals defined as ‘employees’ under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA), which does not include independent contractors or freelancers. However, as a freelancer or independent contractor, you are eligible to apply for the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB).

If I took unpaid sick leave on or after April 19, 2021 for reasons related to COVID-19, but before the legislation was enacted on April 29, am I still eligible for the three days of paid sick leave?

Yes, but you must inform your employer in writing by May 13, 2021 that you intend to take those days as paid sick leave.

What if I am called in for a shift at the last minute but cannot work for reasons related to COVID-19? Will I be eligible for paid sick leave?

If you were scheduled by the employer for a shift and were then unavailable to work due to reasons related to COVID-19, yes, you are eligible. If the employer simply called you to see if you were available to work that day, no, you are not eligible for paid sick leave.

How much notice am I required to give my employer in order to take paid sick leave? For example, am I eligible for paid sick leave if I elect to attend a pop-up vaccination clinic that is announced at the last minute?

There is no requirement to give your employer a specific amount of notice to take paid sick leave under the new measures. However, you must inform your employer that you are unavailable to work for COVID-19 related reasons as soon as you can.

Who can I contact for more information?

You can call the designated Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit Information Centre at 1-888-999-2248.

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ORNGE Paramedics vote in favour of strike action

ORNGE Paramedics have voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action if workers don’t receive an exemption from Bill 124 that caps their salaries to one per cent.

“Enough is enough,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “We can’t keep telling people how essential they are, how important they are, and then pass legislation that takes these paramedics and puts them into a separate bucket than all the other paramedics in this province. That doesn’t make any sense.”

The union is calling on the Ontario government to remove the one percent wage cap imposed by Bill 124 and allow workers to negotiate a collective agreement fairly. Land Ambulance services in Ontario have all negotiated collective agreements with higher wage increases. Last month Thunder Bay paramedics ratified their collective agreement which has an 8.5 per cent wage increase over four years.

“ORNGE paramedics have been instrumental in helping transfer critically ill COVID-19 patients to intensive care units across the province,” said Mark Etherington, Unifor 2002 District Chairperson. “This strike vote is an absolute last resort. We need Premier Ford to do the right thing and exempt us from Bill 124.”

Should the province not exempt paramedics from Bill 124. The union will start the process of negotiating an Essential Services Agreement (ESA). An ESA determines what services paramedics provide are essential and are not essential. The union is in the process of securing a date with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to mediate negotiations of an essential services agreement.

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Conservatives fundraise on YouTube lies

Message from the President Jerry Dias

It seems Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives just can’t pass up any opportunity to feed the party’s right-wing base and do some fundraising.

The Conservatives are standing in front of microphones and e-mailing supporters spinning a myth that the CRTC is going to police the YouTube and Facebook video uploads of everyday citizens.

If Bill C-10 – legislation updating the long-standing Canadian content obligations of commercial broadcasters for the modern era of Internet streaming – gets caught in this political crossfire, O’Toole doesn’t mind.

When money is on the table, O’Toole forgets about his pledge to move his party out of the wacky wilderness where his right-wing MPs like to play.

O’Toole’s Conservatives are pushing a story of how Bill C-10 gives the CRTC the power to muzzle freedom of expression over social media.

“That means that a government-run organization – the CRTC – would have the final say on what Canadians can and cannot post on the internet,” a Conservative email to supporters.

False. Here’s what is actually happening.

The Broadcasting Act is meant to ensure that TV companies provide Canadians with our own news, sports and entertainment programming. Living next door to an American cultural juggernaut 10 times our size and financial might, we require Canadian broadcasters and cable companies to deliver a minimum of Canadian content. For good measure, the CRTC sets standards for advertising content (the children are watching).

All of this is as Canadian as beavertails. Even former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney knew it was a good idea when his majority government revised the Act in 1991.

Bill C-10 is the Broadcasting Act adapted to today’s dominant communications technology, the Internet.

It ensures that Netflix and other foreign Internet streamers either make Canadian content, or fund others to do it through existing industry funds for local news, film and documentaries. This is all exactly what Canadian-owned broadcasters and cable companies have been required to do for decades under the Broadcasting Act.

In their own outreach, even the Conservatives agree this is needed.

“We support the original intent of the bill, which would create a level playing field between large foreign streaming services and Canadian broadcasters,” the email reads.

The original bill exempted Facebook and the Google-owned YouTube from Canadian content obligations, but not Netflix and Disney, since the content on social media platforms consists largely of third-party video uploads.

The uploads themselves, and the Canadians who contribute, were also exempted from any regulation.

The Google/Facebook exemption, however, left a loophole big enough to drive a large broadcaster through, one that needed to be closed in a bill that typically only gets updated every 30 years or so.

Social media platforms, after all, are evolving fast. YouTube already has channels and Facebook has pages belonging to sophisticated commercial parties. Some are for-profit broadcasters selling their wares to audiences on an aggregated media platform.

For the last five decades before Internet streaming we called that “cable TV.”

In response, the majority of MPs on the parliamentary Heritage Committee took the Google/Facebook exemption out of the Bill – meaning Silicon Valley may have to play by the same rules to operate in Canada as Netflix and Disney.

Meanwhile, the third party video uploads by ordinary Canadians – and the uploaders themselves – remain firmly and irrevocably exempt from regulation under C-10, subject only to anti-hate and anti-porn laws.

This is not an assault on freedom of expression, but the Conservatives are not letting that get in the way of rallying supporters – claiming, wrongly, that this is an assault on your freedom, despite the exemption for the very people the Conservatives are trying to rally.

“That means that a government-run organization – the CRTC – would have the final say on what Canadians can and cannot post on the internet,” the Conservative email to supporters reads.

Wrong, just straight-up wrong.

There is nothing in this bill that would give any branch of the government any say whatsoever over what you post on the Internet. Any suggestion otherwise is just an attempt to deceive, and plays into the right-wing conspiracy thinking that O’Toole claims to be putting in the past.

If only he would.

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Loblaw rakes in first-quarter profits while denying workers pandemic pay

Fair Pay Forever. Retail workers need a raise.

May 05, 2021

TORONTO – Loblaw Companies Ltd. has raked in a 30% increase in first-quarter profits while the company continues to deny grocery workers pandemic pay.

“Profits are rising faster than overpriced bread, but Loblaw refuses to fairly compensate frontline workers who put their health at risk to do their jobs everyday,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “Increased pandemic profits have been very good to the corporate bottom line and to shareholder payouts, yet Galen Weston has the nerve to begrudge grocery workers $2 an hour pandemic pay.”

Today Loblaw reported a $313 million Q1 profit, up from $240 million a year ago, with a total revenue of $11.87 billion, up from $11.80 billion last year. Food retail same-stores sales growth held steady in comparison to the stockpiling shopping that occurred in 2020 near the end of the same quarter.

The profit announcement comes just days after the company informed workers of a

one-time ‘appreciation bonus’, ranging as low as $25 and maxing out at $175 for full-time employees. This as Galen G. Weston returns to the role of Chairman and President of Loblaw Companies Ltd. with the departure of President Sarah Davis, who was paid $6.4 million in total compensation in 2020.

Of the three largest grocery chains only Empire Company Ltd. has reinstated pandemic pay, while Metro has also doled out store gift cards to its workers.

Unifor represents approximately 5,400 Loblaw workers at supermarkets, pharmacies, warehouses and bakeries (under Weston Foods) in Ontario, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The union continues to demand provincial governments expedite the vaccination of all essential workers, including grocery store and warehouse, to reduce exposure to COVID-19 for workers, their families and their communities.

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Bell Craft Bargaining update #14

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Information Bulletin #14

4/28/2021 –Union Response to Company Rumours

Sisters and Brothers,

It is no surprise that the company is choosing to communicate bargaining topics or so called “rumours” directly with the membership. They do this in every round of bargaining, fishing for information that may give them the upper hand in negotiations. The bargaining team has been as clear as possible in the communications sent out to the entire membership, regarding the topics raised at the table, including concessionary demands brought forward by the company.

While unable to provide specific topics and language, you can rest assured that like in every previous round of bargaining, the company’s goal is to diminish the overall compensation that our members receive for their hard work, as well as, continue to lower the number of employees in the bargaining unit. If you have any questions regarding the status of bargaining or have heard any “rumours” that you would like to have clarified, please seek answers from the Bell Craft delegate in your union local, and refrain from providing any further information to the company through management.

As previously communicated, our current focus is on the need to resolve the essential services issue, in front of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. We will continue to provide updates as we work through this process.

We thank you for your continued support during bargaining.

In Solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee