As COVID infections spike across Canada, there has never been more urgency to demand action on paid sick days and decent wages.
We know that frontline workers are at much greater risk of exposure on the job.
Yet, while workers face the worst safety crisis of our lifetime, bad bosses like Loblaws, Amazon, and Walmart are cashing in at our expense.
Will you send an email right now to the Prime Minister, the federal Minister of Labour, and opposition party leaders? Click here now!
Email the Prime Minister now!
Visit: www.15andFairness.org/ProtectWorkers
Minimum wage earners in the federally-regulated private sector (bank tellers, airport workers, road workers and more) have been waiting for more than a year for this long-overdue wage bump. This is absolutely shameful.
Some of us doing federally-regulated work make as little as $11.45/hour in Saskatchewan or $11.70/hour in New Brunswick. And most of the rest of us doing this work earn far less than $15 an hour. We all deserve so much better.
That's why we need to speak up loudly and clearly to make sure the federal government keeps its promise to raise the federal minimum wage.
The next seven days are critical
On Monday, November 30 at 4:00 pm, the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance will be delivering an economic update, where they will be outlining their priorities for the weeks ahead.
We need to make sure that frontline workers are central in the government's vision to suppress the virus and recover from the pandemic.
ZAP the Prime Minister!
Let’s deliver a loud, clear message to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Labour, and our own Members of Parliament.
Every phone call we make over the next week will be crucial. Here's how you can help:
Register for one of several upcoming phone ZAPs where we will meet, and make phone calls together:
- November 24: Ottawa, Ontario ZAP - 7:00 pm EST
- November 26: Newfoundland and Labrador ZAP - 7:00 pm NST
- November 27: British Columbia ZAP - 11:00 am PST
- November 29: Vancouver, BC ZAP - 11:30 am PST
- November 29: Toronto, ON ZAP - 7:00 pm EST
- December 5: Nova Scotia ZAP - 3:00 pm AST
Remember to check the campaign website events page here, because more phone ZAPs are coming online every day.
And please don't wait to make your calls!
You can take action right now by contacting your own MP. To find your local Member of Parliament click here and type in your postal code.
Paid Sick Days Now!
More than 11,500 people have died from COVID 19 in Canada and it is widely understood now that low-wage, precarious work without paid sick days and health benefits are a major risk factor in contracting the virus. [1]
That's why it is so appalling that no level of government has moved to ensure every single one of us have seamless access to adequate paid sick days.
We are in a major crisis and need action now
Click here to send an urgent email to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliot as well as your own Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP).
If you have already signed it, please ask two or three more of your friends, family and co-workers to also sign it.
More and more public health officials are speaking out for the urgent need for paid sick days to make it possible for workers to stay home when they are sick, without risking their jobs or their paycheques. [2]
This demand clearly cuts across political party lines. From NDP leaders in Nova Scotia and Ontario [3] to Conservative party members like Toronto Mayor John Tory and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown [4] more and more elected leaders are sounding the alarm on paid sick days for all.
We need your voice!
On Tuesday, December 1 at 6:00 pm, we are calling on everyone to come together to phone the Ontario Premier and Health Minister. We want to deliver hundreds of phone calls and we need your commitment to make this happen.
Please raise your voice and join the action on Tuesday, December 1 in support of paid sick days now: click here to register.
All our lives depend on it.
Sources:
[1] Decent Work and Health Network: Dr. Tam: paid sick leave is “essential to protect worker and community health”
[2] Ottawa Citizen: 10,000 COVID deaths in Canada, and still no adequate paid sick days
[3] Ottawa Citizen: Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill says paid sick days should be part of the provincial Labour Standards Code
[4] Brampton Guardian: Brampton Mayor on COVID and precarious work
“Brampton has one of the highest percentages of essential workers,” Mayor Patrick Brown said Wednesday. “And if you look at the particular area that was highlighted in the Toronto Star article, this has one of the highest level of factory workers, people who work in industrial settings, essential workers and transportation logistics, food processing. ...
“I hear again and again it’s too difficult to get sick benefits, and people are going to work when they have symptoms, people are going to work because they can’t afford to lose their job. They don’t have time to wait for six months of paperwork from Ottawa to get that sick-benefit payment back; they can’t afford to miss a paycheque.