Workers across Ontario have been fighting for $15 and Fairness since April 2015! In that time, we have built a strong movement that has won real improvements for all those of us in low-wage, precarious jobs. 

Through our movement, we have fought hard and made it impossible for governments to ignore us. We have proven that workers can pressure even the most anti-worker governments to respond to the crisis in our workplaces when we organize.

The pandemic has exposed the harsh realities of low-wage and precarious working conditions in Ontario. As the terrain shifts, hundreds of workers have been strategizing, discussing, and developing a new agenda for decent work.

As a result of these deliberations, May 1, 2021, International Workers’ Day (May Day) marked the official transition from the Fight for $15 and Fairness to Justice for Workers: Decent Work for All - the next phase of the Ontario-wide campaign for decent work.

To learn more about the demands and to stay involved, please visit https://www.justice4workers.org/movement.

Toronto -- The Ontario government’s Worker Income Protection Benefit (WIPB) falls far short of what health experts and worker advocates have been calling for. Even worse, the scheme provides less money to low-wage workers who would otherwise have qualified for the already flawed CRSB. Once again, low-wage racialized workers whose communities are being hardest hit by COVID-19 are being left behind.

The program is far from the “best paid sick day plan in North America” -- it is temporary until September and is only for COVID-19 related illness. At just three days, the WIPB does not offer the minimum 10 paid days that workers need - especially during a pandemic. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of this new scheme is the fact workers earning less than $23 an hour could actually be worse off under Premier Doug Ford’s WIPB than under the CRSB.

Doug Ford’s April 22 press conference was an utter disappointment. There was no announcement for permanent employer-provided paid sick days. Instead, Ford gave vague promises of a "best in North America" sick leave plan and doubled-downed on his intention to provide more public subsidies for big business.

Corporations do not need more subsidies. For-profit long term care, corporate landlords and Rogers Communications are just some the thousands that already received $100 billion dollars in subsidies. [1] It’s time the likes Amazon and Loblaws pay their fair share and provide their workers paid sick days.

Take 5 Actions for Decent Work

We cannot afford to wait till the next election. Ontario's ICU’s are overflowing and too many of us are struggling to make ends meet. Here are 5 actions you can do this week to fight for decent work.

1. Have a 1-on-1 organizing conversation
   Who you bring to the table is as important as what you bring to it. Take the time to talk to and organize your co-workers, friends and family. Then get them to affirm their support by signing our paid sick days petition.
   
   
2. Call and email your Member of Provincial Parliament
   Ford is being forced to respond to the call for paid sick days but we can't stop till workers get the protections they need. Contact your MPP today and tell them you don’t want more policing; you want paid sick days that are employer-paid, permanent, universal and adequate.
   
   
3. Join us on May 1st for our campaign launch
   Precarious work is a public health hazard. A decent work agenda must include not only paid sick days, but fair wages, equal benefits, hours we can live on and more. We want you - and the people you've been talking to - to be a part of the launch of our new decent work campaign on May 1st at 11am.
   
   
4. Safely take part in a direct action
   With the weather warming up, it’s time to turn up the heat on our MPPs. Go for a walk and visit your local MPP office and decorate their office with sidewalk chalk and posters! Print one of our posters or design your own and tag us in your photos at @fairwagesnow. 
   
   
5. Support the fight for decent work
   We need your help to keep the our campaign for decent work going strong. Please consider making a donation to our campaign so we are one step closer to winning paid sick days and decent work.
   
   

ALL IN MAY 1! Justice for Workers 

We want you to be a part of our new decent work campaign. When governments and CEO’s call essential workers “heroes” but refuse to support stronger labour laws during lockdowns, it tells us they consider our labour essential but not our lives. 

Our Justice for Workers Campaign is calling for:

• 10 employer-paid paid sick days and 14 more during emergencies
• A $20 minimum wage with no exemptions for students and liquor servers
• Equal pay for equal work for part-time, contract and temp workers
• Adequate hour and fair schedules that we can live on
• Making it easier for us to join unions and end employer harassment
• And much more!
  

Upcoming Actions from our Allies

Pathway to Permanent Residency Tool

Migrants! Use this online assessment tool to find out if you are eligible to apply for Permanent Residency under the new program announced by the Federal government, and what to do it you don't qualify. This tool is created by the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a migrant-led organization that support migrants to unite for their rights.

White People & Defunding Police: a webinar with SURJ & Mariame Kaba

Most white people in our lives have beliefs about policing that are shaped by our racist culture, not in reality. How do we help people understand what defunding the police means and move them to supporting it? Join SURJ and Mariame Kaba to explore what abolition means and how to get involved. Register through Zoom or watch via Facebook Livestream.

April 28, National Day of Mourning

This year, on the National Day of Mourning, we remember the workers killed or injured on the job and commit to continuing the fight for laws that improve worker health and safety. We reflect on the workers who died or fell ill while working through the COVID-19 pandemic. We demand that Premier Ford commit to the overdue health and safety recommendations that could have prevented countless deaths. The Ontario Federation of Labour is calling on provincial leaders to immediately:

• Legislate permanent paid sick days for all workers
• Provide the highest quality and amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to all workers
• Vaccinate equitably and strategically, starting with frontline workers and impacted communities
• Ensure all workers are covered by the workers’ compensation system
• Legislate and enforce preventative training standards

Share on OFL on Facebook, OFL Twitter Day of Mourning, OFL on Instagram Day of Mourning

Mourn of the dead, fight for the Living: #10for10

#10for10 is a 10 minute coordinated workplace action demanding 10 paid sick days and safer working conditions for everyone in Ontario. On April 28th, the Day of Mourning, find your own way to take 10 minutes of action. Register your action today.

Protect good jobs and access to education in Sudbury

Laurentian University is in a crisis that will have devastating impacts. This crisis isn’t an isolated incident. Ford and his Conservative Government have made it clear that appeasing their wealthy corporate donors is a bigger priority to them than supporting good jobs and access to education in our communities. Sign on to protect good jobs and access to education. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Help us win PAID SICK DAYS for all! 

Paid sick days save lives. Public health officers, big-city mayors, community and labour organizations are all calling for urgent action to legislate paid sick days.

The evidence shows paid sick days are effective at curbing transmission of infectious disease, including COVID-19.

• Yet, 58% of workers across Canada have no paid sick days, and that jumps to over 70% of low-income workers
• Even 75% of workers in the service sector, including food services, and 50% in health & social services sectors where the risk of exposure is highest, have no paid sick days
• No one should have to choose between staying home sick & paying the bills
• Black, Indigenous, and workers of colour are over-represented in low-wage, frontline work & are most at risk of becoming infected 
• We hear a lot about thanking essential workers, but why is the government not protecting them with paid sick days? 

Who to call

Let’s call our elected representatives to demand paid sick days now!  

• Health Minister Christine Elliott: 416-327-4300
• Long-term care Minister Merrilee Fullerton: 613-599-3000  
• Education Minister Stephen Lecce: 416-325-2600
• Premier Doug Ford: 416-325-1941 or 416-745-2859
• Labour Minister Monte McNaughton: 416-326-7600
• Premier Doug Ford: 416-325-1941 (Premier's office) and/or 416-745-2859 (Constituency office)
• Your OWN Conservative MPP: click here, scroll down, and enter your postal code: https://www.ola.org/en/members 

Suggested script

(Feel free to change it up and make it your own!)

Hello, my name is _______. I am calling from ________.

I am outraged your party voted against Bill 239 that would have extended paid sick days to all workers. You and Premier Ford are ignoring recommendations from medical officers of health. Any claim your party has listened to and acted on expert advice is false. Your failure has contributed to the 3rd wave of COVID infections, resulting in preventable deaths, harm to our health and the health of the economy.

The very people who don’t have paid sick days at work are also least likely to access the federal sickness benefit. Far from getting both - as Ford suggests when he uses the term “double-dipping” - these workers get nothing. 

Because of racism in the labour market, Black, Indigenous, and workers of colour are over-represented in jobs where paid sick days are not provided. By refusing to legislate paid sick days for all workers, you are reinforcing structural racism.  

Bill 247 is coming up for a vote this week and would provide 10 employer-paid sick days for all of us. I am calling on you to vote in favour of Bill 247. The vast majority of Ontarians support paid sick days and if you vote against this bill, you will ensure that more workers in this province will die from COVID 19 and its more contagious variants.

Rest assured, if you do not vote for paid sick days in 2021, I and all my friends and neighbours, will be voting for paid sick days in the next election.

Thank you. 

Ask a friend to do the same!

After you make your calls, consider phoning 5 of your friends or co-workers, to ask them to make similar calls. Share the url to this page with them, so they know what to do!

Additional Resources

• Paid sick days fact sheet
• Paid sick days email petition
• Before it’s too late: Read the call to action report by health providers 

For more information:

• https://www.decentworkandhealth.org
• https://www.15andfairness.org

Premier Doug Ford and the rest of the Conservative Party caucus are making decisions that will lead to more sickness and death.


Instead of following the recommendations of health experts and worker advocates to implement employer-paid sick days, Ford unleashed new powers for the police to harass and ticket people who are just trying to survive this pandemic.

This is a racist response that will harm Black workers, Indigenous workers, workers of colour, and women workers. Racialized workers are least likely to have paid sick days and are more likely to be harassed and harmed by police. Even if police spokespeople say they won’t act on these new powers, this move emboldens racist cops and gives them confidence to act with impunity. 

We must demand this government reverse course. Here’s what you can do:

1. Join the Ontario-wide organizing meeting on Tuesday, April 20 at 7pm. Register now to receive the Zoom link. 
2. Call and email your MPP right now. Find your MPP here by scrolling down and typing in your postal code. Let them know you are furious with the government’s failure to protect us.
3. Take part in the emergency May Day action. On Saturday, May 1st at 11am, we are putting this government on notice. If they don’t take action now, we will. 

Ontario wants paid sick days!

A new Ontario public opinion poll shows the vast majority of us see paid sick days as essential for curbing workplace outbreaks and stopping the pandemic. Fear-mongering by big business lobby groups -- who claim paid sick days will harm the economy or cost jobs -- isn’t convincing to the public. Even 65% of Ford voters believe paid sick days will not harm the economy.

On May Day, let’s demand more than paid sick days

Join us on Saturday, May 1st at 11am to demand decent work for all. Let’s sound the alarm for paid sick days, decent wages, safe working conditions and good jobs for all. Please register to the May Day action and bring a friend.


Low-wage, precarious work is a threat to our collective health and well-being. Whether it is part-time and temp workers stringing together multiple jobs to make ends meet and accidentally spreading COVID-19; or workers without paid sick days who can’t afford to stay home at the first sign of symptoms; or parents sending sick kids to school because they can’t afford to lose a day’s pay to stay home with them -- a bold agenda for decent work is crucial in curbing COVID-19.

Will you join us on Saturday, May 1 at 11am to let every MPP know we expect them to be a decent work champion?

May 1: Countdown to justice

Our May Day action will also be the launch of the next phase of the decent work movement. After conducting hundreds of conversations with workers in low-wage and precarious work, it’s clear that Ontario is ready to fight for a new, bold vision for decent work. Join us on May Day as we call for:  

• at least 10 employer-paid sick days permanently with another 14 paid days kicking in during public health outbreaks; 
• an end to racist harassment, discrimination, and workplace bullying;
• a much higher minimum wage - at least $20 an hour - and annual cost of living adjustments; 
• full-time work for all who want it and equal pay between full-time, directly-hired workers with those of us who must work part-time, casual, on contract or through temp agencies;
• easier access to unions; and
• real enforcement of the law.

Crucially, we must demand full immigration status for every worker so we are all protected by the laws and social safety net. None of us should be deported for standing up for decent work. 

Upcoming events from our community and labour allies

Vaccines for all 

Demand the federal and provincial governments ensure full access to the COVID-19 vaccine to all migrants, regardless of immigration status. Vaccines must be free; not require a health card; be accessible; and not be mandatory. No information about migrants must be collected or shared with immigration enforcement. All migrants must have access to universal healthcare immediately, regardless of immigration status. Full and permanent immigration status for all is essential in order to guarantee safe and healthy communities.

Black on Campus: Justice for Professor Avolonto

Solidarity is urgently needed for Prof. Aimé Avolonto, a Black professor who is facing termination by York University's President Rhonda Lenton following public comments he made to the media about anti-Black racism at York. Systemic anti-Black racism is nothing new at York University, but what is different about this case is Prof. Avolonto's refusal to back down and his insistence on having his complaints about anti-Black racism heard, despite York's attempts to cover them up. 

Petition: Sign the petition in support of Dr. Avolonto 
Phone Zap: Make a call in defense of Professor Avolonto on April 21st at 7pm

Solidarity with Asian and migrant sex workers

Join Butterfly in celebrating the organization's 5 years of history and take collective action to support their advocacy work.

• Catch Butterfly's community online exhibition on Instagram between April 17th and May 1st. This exhibition features photographs, voice and text messages contributed by the Butterfly community, and social media posts that share a layered timeline of Butterfly's history of activism, advocacy, and support work. 
• Join the Day of Action to support Butterfly's advocacy work on Saturday, April 24 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm.

Curbing COVID, Fighting for Decent Work Panel

Join the Centre for Free Expression for a conversation about the connection between decent work and public health on Wednesday May 5th at 4pm.

Epicenters for COVID have been long-term care homes, warehouses, factories, and farms where workers feel pressured to be silent about what is happening to them and their communities. Join a panel of experts exploring how this happened, what it means for workers, and what can be done. 

Panelists:

• Kit Andres, Migrant Farm Workers Organizer, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
• Syed Hussan, Executive Director, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
• Gagandeep Kaur, Organizer, Peel Warehouse Workers Centre
• Deena Ladd, Executive Director, Workers’ Action Centre
• Moderated by Myer Siemiatycki, Professor Emeritus, Politics & Public Administration, Ryerson University

Ontario is facing yet another COVID crisis as Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott continue to ignore the advice of medical professionals as well as global evidence that adequate, seamlessly available, fully paid sick days are an indispensable for fighting COVID 19. 

On World Health Day April 7, join us to demand legislated, employer-paid sick days for everyone. Click here to register. 

Despite Ford’s claims that he will not hesitate to do everything possible, he has failed to implement the most basic and urgent provision to curb the spread of COVID and its variants: legislate paid sick days. Health Minister Christine Elliott has continued to repeat the false claim that paid sick days already exist. Meanwhile, almost everyone knows the federal program is temporary and inadequate. And the eligibility requirements exclude the very workers who don’t already have paid sick days at work.

By refusing to legislate paid sick days, Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Christine Elliott, and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton are prolonging the recovery and making another lockdown more likely. Nevertheless, the call for legislated paid sick days has overwhelming support across Ontario. And despite the defeat of private member’s Bill 239 that would have provided 7 permanent paid sick days plus an additional 14 paid sick days during public health outbreaks like COVID 19, another private member’s bill has already been tabled and passed first reading. 

Bill 247 the Paid Personal Emergency Leave Now Act would provide 10 permanent, employer-paid emergency leave to cover sickness and other family emergencies. 

April 7 is World Health Day 

The overwhelming majority of Ontarians -- including health providers -- support legislated, fully-paid, and seamlessly accessible paid sick days for the 60% of workers who are currently denied this essential protection. As a member of the Decent Work and Health Network once observed: the only place Premier Ford has a majority is at Queen’s Park. That’s why it is essential for all of us to raise our voices loudly and demand the Ford government act on the will of Ontarians. Will you join us on April 7 at 6:30 pm to demand action on paid sick days?

We think World Health Day is an excellent occasion to call Health Minister Christine Elliott and other Conservative MPPs to sound the alarm for paid sick days for all of us. 

It will also be a crucial opportunity to explain how white supremacy and racism are also threats to individual and public health and that denying paid sick days is a continuation of structural racism. As a result of racism in the labour market, Black, Indigenous, newcomers, and workers of colour are over-represented in part-time, low wage and precarious employment and as a result, are far less likely to have paid sick days and more likely to be in frontline jobs that put them in harm's way, especially during COVID. 

Because the vast majority of part-time workers are paid less than their full-time counterparts, and because paid sick days are denied to part-time workers - even to those on the frontlines in health care - those in part-time work suffer directly and cumulatively as wages and all related entitlements from Employment Insurance to Canada Pension Plan are lower. Register for the phone ZAP here.

April 7 is Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day marks the number of additional days an average woman must work on top of her previous annual earnings to take home the same amount of money as their male counterparts did in a single calendar year. 

The lack of paid sick days for women is an important contributor to women’s lower earnings. Because women still shoulder the burden of caring responsibilities in the household, women are more likely to work part-time as a means of balancing family and work responsibilities. Women are also more likely to be working part-time involuntarily, because of sexism in the labour market. 

Black women, Indigenous women, racialized women and women with disabilities fare much worse than their white, able-bodied counterparts, as this Equal Pay Coalition info-graphic explains.

On April 7 - let’s let the Ford government know that decent work and paid sick days are matters of racial and gender justice.  will you join us on April 7 at 6:30 pm to demand action on paid sick days? Please RSVP right now, and invite your friends, neighbours and coworkers to join you. 

Register for the next Decent Work Organizing Meeting

The next provincial organizing meeting will be taking place on April 20 at 7:00 pm. Please register now and bring a friend. At that meeting we will be planning our provincial day of action on May 1 - the day we will be relaunching the campaign and setting the agenda for action today and in the next election. 

May Day: Let’s put this government on notice

On May 1, let’s visit MPPs across the province to demand action. Click here to register to help put this government on notice that if they don’t act immediately to protect workers, we will take action now and in the next election. 

The dramatic March 13 closure of a huge Amazon warehouse in Brampton shows how urgent it is for Premier Doug Ford to take action on paid sick days. Since October, over 600 workers at that warehouse have been infected by COVID-19 and its variants. [1] How many of these infections could have been prevented had Ontario taken medical officers’ health advice and moved quickly to ensure all workers have paid sick days?

Register right now for our March 23 online organizing meeting. Click here to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.

Ensuring that workers have the financial ability to stay home at the first sign of symptoms is now a matter of common sense to all but the Ford government. On March 1, while all opposition parties supported the NDP private member’s Bill 239 to provide paid sick days to all workers, Doug Ford’s Conservatives united to ensure the Bill was defeated.

This decision is short-sighted and dangerous to all of us, especially since COVID-19 infections and new variants are on the rise in Ontario. For as long as this government denies paid sick days to those of us who need them, we will continue to be forced to make the difficult decision to go to work sick to put food on the table or pay rent.

But let’s also be clear: this decision is racist. Because of racism in the labour market, white workers are more likely to have paid sick days in their jobs, more likely to be able to work from home and self-isolate, and, therefore, less likely to suffer financially when they take a sick day for anything from a headache to the flu.

Again, because of racism in the labour market, Black workers, Indigenous workers, workers of colour and newcomer workers are overrepresented in jobs that don’t provide paid sick days. These tend to be frontline service jobs where it is even more challenging for workers to protect themselves on the job without reprisals. And when we are simply too sick to work, there is a significant financial impact from losing even 1 or 2 days of work in a year.

See and share the full post on the Decent Work and Health Network's Instagram page here. 

So, when our elected representatives deny paid sick days, they perpetuate racism and deepen the racial wage and wealth gap.

Vaccinations alone can’t substitute for paid sick days. Workers who need to get vaccinated must have paid sick days to get the shot and recover from any side-effects. It must also be said that the vaccination program is not expected to be complete until September, and even then, we know that some people will fall through the cracks. For all these reasons, paid sick days will continue to be a crucial tool in our COVID containment strategy now and in the future to protect everyone from common infectious disease and future public health outbreaks.

There is some good news. Thanks to your continued organizing, another paid sick days bill has already been tabled in the Ontario Legislative Assembly. Bill 247 would provide 10 permanent, employer-paid emergency leave days to all workers as a matter of law. It is expected to come up for a vote in April - so that means we still have time to organize and persuade Ford’s Conservatives to do the right thing by supporting Bill 247.

Click here to RSVP for the March 23 decent work organizing meeting. 

You should also know that a recent news story quoted unnamed sources from within the Conservative caucus, saying they feel the pressure to respond to our relentless campaign to win paid sick days for all. [2] This tells us our work together has been effective, and we need to intensify the pressure on every single Conservative MPP in this province.

Now’s the time to organize phone zaps in your riding, to demand meetings with your local MPP and spread the word far and wide. Let’s send a message that Ontario expects this government to legislate sick days now. Join the March 23 online organizing meeting. 

Read on for upcoming decent work actions, as well as related events organized by our allies.

March 18 - Ontario Federation of Labour: A People First Agenda - Help & Hope, An Anti-Racism Discussion
In recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, let’s talk about the groundwork we need to lay to ensure we have a government committed to transformative change and takes action to challenge injustice and address barriers for racialized people. Click here to RSVP.

March 20 - Free Them All: National Day of Action in Solidarity with Prisoners
March 20 marks one year since the first prisoner in Canada contracted COVID-19 at the Toronto South Detention Centre. More than 6,700 COVID-19 cases were linked to prisons and jails in the last year - including 4,971 prisoners, despite persistent calls to take immediate action to avoid preventable deaths. Click here to RSVP.

March 21 - Brampton Paid Sick Days phone zap
Join us on Sunday, March 21 at 2:00 pm for this emergency phone ZAP to demand paid sick days for all. We are outraged that Conservative Brampton MPPs voted against Bill 239, which would have legislated permanent paid sick days for all of us. Brampton has one of the highest proportions of COVID 19 infections in Ontario, and workplaces are a persistent source of infection. Click here to RSVP

March 27 - Education Assembly
Join the first virtual Province-Wide Education Assembly to discuss what Ontarians need from our education systems during COVID-19 and beyond. This Assembly unites workers, parents, and students from child care to post-secondary through education, inspiration, and action. We will use these discussions to understand better how to work together to advocate for decent work and increased public funding for education, from child care to post-secondary. Click here to RSVP

March 27 - Solidarity with Grassy Narrows

Grassy Narrows is the English name for the Ojibwe Indigenous nation: Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek. Approximately 90% of Grassy Narrows residents suffer from mercury poisoning. The poisoning results from Dryden Chemicals Ltd. dumping mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system between 1962 and 1970.

After many years of work by Grassy Narrows and supporters like you, the federal government signed an agreement last Spring with Grassy Narrows and committed to building a Mercury Care Home using the community’s design! But Grassy Narrows still needs to gain just compensation for all of its people for the ongoing mercury crisis, restore their health, way of life, self-determination, and protect their land and water from industrial logging and mining. Click here to RSVP

April 7 - Ottawa Paid Sick Days phone zap 

Join us on Wednesday, April 7 at 7:00 pm as we plan the next steps for the decent work movement in Ottawa. Click here to RSVP

April 20 - Decent work organizing meeting 
Thanks to your incredible effort, there is growing momentum for safe and healthy workplaces for all. From paid sick days to migrant justice and decent wages to safe schools, your actions make a difference! Join us for our monthly organizing meetings together with the Ontario Federation of Labour to mobilize for the month ahead. Please RSVP here to get emailed the zoom link closer to the meeting. Click here to RSVP

MAY 1 - SAVE THE DATE: Decent work campaign relaunch
For the past several months, leaders in the Fight for $15 and Fairness have been consulting with hundreds of workers in low-wage, part-time, temporary, and other precarious jobs to find out where to take the campaign in the months and years ahead. We are assessing the feedback and preparing to re-launch the campaign based on the priorities workers have identified. Save the date and join us on Saturday, May 1, as we unveil the next phase of the decent work phase.

WATCH and SHARE: Black on Campus

Watch on Youtube: Click here to watch!

CONTENT WARNING: This video contains a graphic image and language.

The Fifth Estate investigates anti-Black racism on Canadian campuses

"Black on campus" is a ground-breaking video documentary about anti-Black racism on Canadian campuses. It was originally broadcast on February 25, 2021, by The Fifth Estate, CBC's premier investigative journalism program. For the first time in a major network broadcast, "Black on campus" reveals the day-to-day reality of systemic anti-Black racism facing Black students, staff, and faculty in Canada's post-secondary system.

Please help us promote "Black on Campus" by forwarding this message to your contacts, networks, and members. If you study or work on campus in Canada or want to be part of the fight against anti-Black racism, this documentary is essential. Please watch it and share it. Click here to watch the segment. The run time is only 21 minutes.

After watching the documentary, share your feedback with The Fifth Estate and encourage the CBC to produce more content like "Black on campus." Email [email protected] or click here. Click here to read more about the broadcast.

[1] Mojtehedzadeh, Sara, and Akrit Michael. “Amazon's Brampton Warehouse Ordered to Shutter over COVID-19 Outbreak.” Thestar.com, 12 Mar. 2021

 “Amazon Site in Brampton, Ont., Must Close and All Employees Self-Isolate, Health Officials Order | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 13 Mar. 2021, 

[2] Benzie, Robert. “Pressure Mounts on Doug Ford's Conservatives to Bolster Ottawa's Sick Leave Program.” Thestar.com, 8 Mar. 2021

We need you at the next organizing meeting this Tuesday at 7:00 pm! With overwhelming support for provincially-legislated paid sick days, better wages, and hours of work, there's never been a more urgent time to get involved in the fight for decent work.

Register right now (click here) and bring a friend! 

For your calendar, the next organizing meetings are taking place on the following Tuesdays at 7:00 pm: March 23; April 20; and May 18. You can register online here.

We LIT it UP for Paid Sick Days: Keep the fire burning

Thousands of people across Ontario took action in support of paid sick days. Click here to see samples of the many actions that took place over Family Day weekend. 

On February 16, when the Ontario Legislative Assembly resumed, we sent a loud, clear message to all MPPs that paid sick days save lives. New Democratic Party MPP Peggy Sattler called for all-party consent for her private member's Bill 239 which would, if adopted, provide 7 paid sick days permanently plus an additional 14 days during public health outbreaks like COVID-19. Both the Green Party of Ontario and the Ontario Liberal Party support Bill 239. All-party consent would have meant an expedited process for adopting Bill 239, but Conservative MPPs opposed the proposal.

As it stands, Bill 239 will come back for additional debate on February 25 and a second vote is expected the first week of March. The days ahead are crucial. All of us have a role to play in turning the widespread support for paid sick days into phone calls and emails directly to MPPs.

Here's what you can do:

• Join or organize a paid sick days phone ZAP in your community. 

Kingston phone ZAP: February 24 at 7:00 pm | Click here to register online and here to RSVP and share on Facebook.

Ottawa-Nepean phone ZAP: February 26 at 7:00 pm | Click here to register online and here to RSVP and share on Facebook.

Email us at [email protected] if you want to organize your own local phone ZAP.

• Call your MPP right now. Let them know that their action - or inaction - on paid sick days is a voting issue for you. If you don't know your MPP, click here and scroll down to the "Find my MPP" section where you can type in your postal code.

• Send a personal email to your MPP. Be sure to track how many emails and calls you have made and ask your neighbours, co-workers, and friends to do the same.
  
  
• Use social media. #PaidSickDaysSaveLives and #PaidSickDays are great sources of inspiration. Tag your MPP and let them know you want them to pass Bill 239. Here's a sample tweet to get you started:

"I expect my MPP [tag them] to support Bill 239 which provides all workers with 7 permanent paid sick days and an additional 14 paid sick days during public health outbreaks. #PaidSickDaysSaveLives #PaidSickDays @FairWagesNow"

• Put up a poster. Download and print a sign here or make your own. Put your poster on your door or in your window. You could even put a few up in your neighbourhood or deliver a sign to your MPP.  

Federal COVID-19 income supports

The Fight for $15 and Fairness is one of 37 community and labour organizations across Canada that signed a statement calling on the Federal Government to extend and improve Canada Recovery Benefits (CRB), Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefits (CRCB), and temporary Employment Insurance (EI) measures. 

Within hours of releasing the statement, the federal government announced the CRB and CRCB would be extended by another 12 weeks and the temporary EI measures would be extended by another 24 weeks.

These are welcome steps forward, but we must demand that CRB and CRCB are also extended for at least another 24 weeks. The economy will not be fully recovered in 12 weeks. That's why we need an extension in federal COVID-19 income supports until at least the end of 2021 or whenever the economy has recovered. We also need permanent improvements in EI so that this vital program is there for us when we need it - now and in the future. 

Click here to sign the petition.

Save the date: May 1 Decent work campaign re-launch

For the past several months, leaders in the Fight for $15 and Fairness have been consulting with hundreds of workers in low-wage, part-time, temporary, and other precarious jobs to find out where to take the campaign in the months and years ahead. We are assessing the feedback and preparing to re-launch the campaign based on the priorities workers have identified. Save the date and join us on Saturday, May 1 as we unveil the next phase of the movement for decent work. 

Become a monthly supporter

As you know, the Fight for $15 and Fairness operates on a shoestring budget, with most of our infrastructure provided by the Workers' Action Centre (which is like a union of non-union workers). COVID-19 has hit everyone hard and we sorely need financial support to keep our movement going. 

Could you help us by becoming a monthly donor? That means giving us a modest contribution each month so we can have a steady income and plan accordingly. Every amount - no matter how small or big - makes a huge difference to our work. Click here right now to become a monthly donor.    

NEWS FROM OUR ALLIES

Anti-Black racism is rampant in workplaces across Canada. This is as true in post-secondary education as it is in any other workplace. Courageously, workers and students on campus have been speaking up and speaking out.

On Thursday, February 25 at 9:00 pm, CBC's flagship investigative documentary series, The Fifth Estate, will broadcast a ground-breaking episode about anti-Black racism in post-secondary education. Titled "Black on campus," the episode will examine the cases of a Black staff person, a Black professor, and a Black student, and what happened to them when they complained about anti-Black racism on each of their campuses. 

Here's how to watch on February 25 at 9:00 pm:

• Watch on TV: on any local CBC channel.
• Watch online: on CBC Gem. Create a free CBC Gem account by clicking here. 

After February 25, you can still watch it on The Fifth Estate YouTube channel or on CBC Gem. 

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Thank you for your ongoing solidarity and leadership. See you at the next organizing meeting on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00 pm. Don't forget to register here to get the link -- and bring a friend. 

See you there!

For immediate release

With federal COVID-19 income supports set to end on March 27 for many, workers fear the future, demand action from the federal government. 

TORONTO, ON - Workers still unable to work due to the pandemic spoke at a press conference today to bring attention to the looming financial crisis facing hundreds of thousands of people across the country. The special COVID-19 Employment Insurance and Recovery Benefits will soon run out for many. 

The Fight for $15 and Fairness is one of 43 community and labour organizations across Canada that have signed on to a statement calling on the Federal Government to extend and improve Canada Recovery Benefits, Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefits, and temporary Employment Insurance (EI) measures. Together we are calling on the government to immediately act on much-needed reforms to EI as well as other income supports that community and labour groups have long advocated. These include an EI review that leads to comprehensive, lasting reforms with expanded access and improved benefits.

Without immediate action, hundreds of thousands of workers will run out of income support on March 27. This will be a disaster for the affected workers and for the economy since these income supports flow to local businesses as workers buy groceries and other necessities.    

Take action and email the Prime Minister and your MP:
https://www.15andfairness.org/demand_an_extension_to_crb_crcb_and_ei

Statements 
Crisis Looms for Hundreds of Thousands Who Face a ‘Benefit Cliff’ as COVID-19 Recovery and EI Benefits Start to Run Out March 27

Des centaines de milliers de personnes risquent de se trouver en crise à l’épuisement de leurs prestations de relance économique et d’assurance-emploi (AE) à partir du 27 mars 2021

There is now near-universal support for legislated, adequate paid sick days for all of us. 

Last December, the Ontario NDP tabled Bill 239 - The “Stay at Home when you are Sick” Act. This bill provides seven permanent paid sick days plus an additional 14 paid sick days during public health outbreaks. As the legislative assembly resumes, Bill 239 already passed first reading and is supported by both the Ontario Green Party and the Ontario Liberal Party. 

All party-consent would mean this life-saving bill could be expedited and implemented almost immediately. Unfortunately, so far, Premier Doug Ford and the rest of the Ontario Conservative Party refuse to legislate paid sick days. 

That’s why we need your help.

CAR CARAVAN FOR PAID SICK DAYS on February 16

On Tuesday, February 16, the Ontario Legislative Assembly is resuming. Let’s show Premier Ford that the whole province expects him to do his job by legislating paid sick days for all of us.

Our Car Caravan will circle Queen’s Park, and we will make as much noise as we can to make sure they hear us loudly inside -- and out. Please let us know right now if you can help with the car caravan by using this link to register. 

On February 16, we will meet at Hart House at the University of Toronto (9 Hart House Circle) at 9:30 am. We will take the next 30 minutes to decorate our cars. At 10:00 am, we will head off together to bring our urgent message to Queen’s Park, and we will finish our action by 11:00 am.

Here's what you can do:

• Put a car in the caravan (click here to register)
• Amplify on social media - feel free to use this message:

#LightitUP for #PaidSickDays because #PaidSickDaysSaveLives 

I expect my MPP to support Bill 239, which provides all workers with 7 permanent paid sick days and an additional 14 paid sick days during public health outbreaks. 

• Share the Facebook event
• Call your MPP directly (even if you’ve already called them - you could ask for an online meeting)
• Talk to your friends, neighbours, and co-workers about why we all need paid sick days

ON FAMILY DAY: LIGHT IT UP for PAID SICK DAYS

Paid sick days are crucial for the well-being of all families. What better way to mark the holiday than shine a spotlight on the urgency of legislated paid sick days? 

This family day (February 15), the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Fight for $15 and Fairness are joining forces to LIGHT IT UP for paid sick days.

Here's what you can do:

• Visit the Ontario Federation of Labour resource page here for a Paid Sick Days colouring book and other social media tools (coming this week). 
• Make a home-made Paid Sick Days Save Lives signs with your kids, or download and print a poster.
• Put your signs and designs up on doors, windows, or even post them in your neighbourhoods.
• Snap selfies of your signs with yourself or with your family and post them on social media. Be sure to tag your MPP when you do.
  
• Share the Facebook event
• Light up the phone lines. Call your Member of Provincial Parliament to demand they support the Paid Sick Days Bill 239 as the first item of business when the legislature resumes. Then ask friends and other family members to do the same. You can find your MPP here (scroll to the bottom and enter your postal code).
• OR call into your favourite talk show to help spread the word.
• Light it Up for paid sick days between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm: When the sun sets, light a candle, or turn on your porch lights, headlights, flashlights, cell phones, holiday lights, or LED lights and share your signs and designs over social media, to show your support for paid sick days.
• Feel free to use the following for social media: 

#LightitUP for #PaidSickDays because #PaidSickDaysSaveLives

I expect my MPP to support Bill 239, which provides all workers with 7 permanent paid sick days and an additional 14 paid sick days during public health outbreaks.

Let's keep fighting for paid sick days!

The momentum keeps growing. Three more municipal councils have raised the call for legislated paid sick days: St. Catharines, London and Toronto. This is in addition to calls from Ontario’s Big City Mayors. And just this week, the Ottawa Board of Health voted to demand the Ontario government mandate paid sick leave, saying it is “an important tool for keeping the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases to a minimum.”

Even small businesses are speaking up to say paid sick days are critical for curbing the spread of infectious disease and avoiding future lockdowns. They want the government to legislate paid sick days to level the playing field. Many small businesses are already providing paid sick days. At the same time, big-box corporations like Loblaws, Walmart, and Amazon refuse to do so. 

Let's raise our voices as loudly and as visibly as we possibly can. Every sitting MPP must feel the pressure from constituents that paid sick days are essential now -- and forever. Indeed, had paid sick days been in place before the COVID-19 outbreak, hundreds of people would still be alive today. It’s no exaggeration to say: paid sick days save lives.

Register now for the next decent work organizing meeting

Register now for the next decent work organizing meeting: Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00 pm. This meeting will be crucial to share the momentum and plan the next steps for decent work. Please RSVP right now (click here) and invite a friend. We need all hands on deck to ensure essential workers have essential protections. As we know so tragically well, none of us are safe unless all of us are safe.

NEWS FROM OUR ALLIES

The Ontario Federation of Labour is hosting an important town hall to talk about how we can make better use of public resources by redirecting funds from policing to the social programs and services we all need.

Speakers include Robyn Maynard – Canadian Author and Academic; El Jones – Spoken word poet, educator, journalist, and community activist; and Sarah Jama – Community organizer and advocate. To RSVP and learn more, click here.

The evidence keeps pouring in that legislated, employer-paid sick days are essential to protect workers and communities. Over 15,000 health providers have contracted COVID-19, including personal support workers and nurses. This represents a doubling of cases among health workers in only three months. Meanwhile, Loblaws corporation reported that 56 grocery store workers at 43 stores in the Greater Toronto Area tested positive for COVID-19 in the four weeks starting December 24. And still, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton remain unfazed.

Emergency phone ZAP: Paid sick days save lives

We need your help to wake up our government representatives. Please join us on Tuesday, January 26 at 6:00 pm in an emergency phone action. Click here to RSVP right now. Then find one more person who can help. To sound the alarm for paid sick days, we want to deliver as many phone calls as possible. We're counting on you to help spread the word. 

Join us this Tuesday, January 26 at 6:00 pm

Toolkit: Download your paid sick days kit 

The Decent Work and Health Network has provided all the tools you need to get up to speed on why we need legislated, employer-paid sick days for all. Help us share these resources. 

• In brief: Why the Canada Recovery Sickness benefit will never be a substitute for legislated, employer-paid sick days for all (click here).
• Get the facts: 2-pager separating paid sick days facts from the fiction peddled by corporate lobbyists (click here).
• Let's get visible: Print and post this sign for your front door or window (click here).

Allies have also drafted a sample resolution calling for paid sick days. Download the sample motion here, amend as needed, then take it to your local union or central labour body, your students' union, your community organization, or your local riding association. The more groups that adopt this resolution, the stronger our movement will be. And, please do let us know when it is adopted!

If you're on social media, there is now a sharable Facebook frame for your social media profile picture that reads: "No more preventable deaths. Paid sick days now." Get yours here.

Report back: January 19 online organizing meeting

With over 150 people joining in from across Canada, we had a high-energy meeting last Tuesday. We had three breakout groups: Paid sick days save lives; Safe education; and Safe and healthy workplaces. We strategized, planned, and committed ourselves to strengthening the decent work movement. This commitment is especially important since we learned that all provincial and territorial Ministers of Labour will be meeting with their federal counterpart in mid-February. 

COVID-19 has exposed the extent of precarious work and all the hardships - and tragedies - that go with it. Although we agreed that fighting for paid sick days is a key link right now, it is also clear workers need better wages, safer working conditions, decent hours, and better benefits. That's why we planned to pull out all the stops to organize and activate more people between now and mid-February when the labour ministers meet.

Breakout room: Paid sick days save lives

Participants decided to do another big phone ZAP – this time targeting the Ontario Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton along with our own local Members of Provincial Parliament. RSVP here for the 6:00 pm phone ZAP next Tuesday.

Participants thought it would be exciting to follow up the big phone ZAP with lots of smaller phone zaps organized by groups or individuals in their own communities. Other great ideas coming out of the paid sick days save lives breakout group included making and posting short videos saying why we need legislated, employer-paid sick days. Participants also highlighted the importance of sharing social media posts, especially from the hashtags: #PaidSickDaysSaveLives and #PaidSickDays. The idea of a car caravan in the days ahead was also popular, so watch this space for updates on that.

Breakout group: Safe education

The group had a wide-ranging and comprehensive discussion, noting that chronic underfunding of education, from early childhood to post-secondary, has left our education systems woefully unprepared for the COVID crisis. Whether we're talking about broken ventilation systems or overcrowded classrooms, more must be done to protect our communities. It was particularly noted that low-wage, part-time, and temporary employment is a health-and-safety risk inside and outside the education system. The absence of legislated paid sick days for parents and education workers as well as students themselves intensifies that risk.

Action items:

• Please sign and share this important petition from the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare (click here). 
• Click here to register for the Ontario Federation of Labour's education forum on Saturday, February 13 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. 

Breakout group: Safe and healthy workplaces

The group had an excellent discussion about why occupational health and safety experts must have a bigger role in developing workplace COVID-19 guidelines. While workers are blamed for breaking rules, the reality is that many workplaces that continue to operate fail to provide the resources that allow workers to protect themselves. Racism was also discussed as a critical health-and-safety issue.

Action items:

• Click here to RSVP for an OFL forum on what it means to redirect funds from policing to the services that we all need and depend on.
• Click here to RSVP for an OFL forum on health and safety on campus on February 2 at 7:00 pm.

URGENT: Temp Agency Consultation

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has announced a consultation on Temporary Help Agencies (for more information, click here). Unfortunately, the frame for this consultation is not from the perspective of workers, but rather from the perspective of employers. There is a very tight window for making submissions, and the deadline is January 29. To help everyone respond quickly, we are inviting organizations and individuals to endorse the joint-submission written and submitted by Parkdale Community Legal Services, Migrant Workers' Alliance for Change, and the Workers' Action Centre. Take a look at the submission as well as a sample endorsement letter on our website.

SAVE THE DATES! 

Join us at our upcoming monthly organizing meetings! Our meetings take place Tuesdays at 7:00 pm on the following dates: February 23; March 23; and April 20.

And be sure to mark Saturday, May 1 in your calendars to join us as we relaunch the campaign for decent work. 

See you all on Zoom next Tuesday at 6:00 pm for the paid sick days phone ZAP!

PAID SICK DAYS SAVE LIVES

The new year has barely begun and already our hospitals are overwhelmed and Ontario has declared a state of emergency as a result of COVID-19 [1]. 

But Premier Doug Ford still refuses to implement paid sick days despite being repeatedly told that seamless access to adequate, permanent paid sick days is an essential tool in curbing the deadly consequences of this disease [2].

Workplaces are a key source of disease transmission. Why? Because workers are denied the essential protections that allow them to protect themselves and – by extension – our communities. Whether we are talking about the denial of paid sick days, about wages so low that health providers are forced into shelters because they can't find affordable housing, or inadequate hours that force part-time workers into multiple workplaces – workers need real protections now and forever [3].

Tuesday, January 19: Next online organizing meeting

Register NOW for the next online decent work organizing meeting on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:00 pm.

There's not a moment to lose in building the kind of movement we need to win permanent, employer-paid sick days for all. Come to the next organizing meeting and bring a friend! (And please be sure to register here so that you receive the Zoom link!)

Paid sick days - get the facts.

While over half of workers don't have paid sick days, those corporations least likely to provide employer-paid sick days are the corporations currently making stomach-churning profit. These are companies like Amazon, Walmart, Loblaws, and more who make their huge profits with a cheap-labour strategy and deny permanent paid sick days to their workforces.

These companies don't need more public subsidies, they need to be forced to protect workers. We have already seen how public subsidies have been abused to issue dividends to wealthy shareholders [4]. 

It is no surprise these same corporations are pushing back against the growing momentum for employer-paid sick days. They are making false claims that workers abuse paid sick days and employers can't afford them. But we know in jurisdictions where workers have access to as many as nine paid sick days, workers used an average of just three days and many used none. 

The Decent Work and Health Network has compiled a fact sheet that shatters the myths that employers can't afford to provide paid sick days or that workers abuse them. Download it here. 

SAVE THE DATES

Monthly decent work organizing meetings

For 2021, we will continue to meet once per month on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm. Upcoming meeting dates are as follows: February 23, March 23, and April 20.

Campaign re-launch - May 1

Circle the date and clear the decks. The campaign for decent work will be re-launching on May 1, 2021!

For the past several months, we have been busy talking with workers in low-wage, part-time, and precarious employment to find out what they want to fight for in the next phase of our campaign for decent work. From detailed one-on-one conversations to focus groups, we have been having conversations about what priorities need refreshing, what issues must be added to our agenda, and what changes continue to be urgently needed.

May 1 is known around the world as International Workers' Day to commemorate the fight for decent work. We can't think of a better day to relaunch our campaign.

We hope you'll join us!

-----------------------------------------

In the meantime, take care, stay safe, and see you at tomorrow's organizing meeting!  

- Pam 

On behalf of the Fight for $15 and Fairness team! 

[1] Global News 

[2] Huffington Post 

[3] Ottawa Citizen

[4] CBC News 

This has been an intense year, but thanks to you we have made an incredible difference.

From the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, we've worked together to protect as many people as possible. Please consider making a donation now to fuel this work in the year ahead (click here), as the pandemic rages on.

Whether it be fighting for adequate income supports, decent wages, or paid sick days, we've accomplished a lot. Here are just a few highlights:

Emergency Benefits and Employment Insurance

Together we campaigned for - and won - emergency benefits for workers and major improvements to Employment Insurance (EI). (Remember when the only thing the government initially announced for workers was waiving the one-week waiting period for EI and encourage workers to claim EI sickness benefits if they got COVID?) 

Adequate income

After winning the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, we still fought tooth and nail for the weekly income support to be a minimum of $500 for a 16-week period. (Recall that the first announcement for emergency benefits was for only $450 in weekly pre-tax income and only for 14 weeks.)

Extending duration from 16 weeks to 28 weeks

When the first 16 weeks of benefits were set to expire but the economy was still in the depths of crisis, we had to push hard to demand an extension of benefits, winning a reprieve to August, then an additional four more weeks.

Justice for migrant workers

We fought alongside migrant-led organizations to ensure all migrant workers had access to emergency supports. These efforts led to important improvements! But it is crystal clear that without full protections under the law, too many people will fall through the cracks. That's why we must keep up the fight for full immigration status for all. 

Recovery benefits and EI improvements

In the Fall, the government announced temporary improvements to the EI program that will ensure workers can access it after 120 hours of work, and will receive a minimum weekly pre-tax benefit of $500 for 26 weeks. These improvements have been crucial to ensure more workers can get EI when they need it. Alongside the EI changes, the government announced new Recovery Benefits that will provide similar support: $500 weekly (pre-tax), for 26 weeks. 

2021: Let's make temporary improvements permanent!

None of this would have happened if people like you hadn't raised your voice - signed petitions, called your Member of Parliament, spoke to the media, and talked with your friends and neighbours. We know these changes have been huge, but more needs to be done to leave no one behind.

We will have to fight even harder in 2021 to ensure the temporary improvements to EI are made permanent, and that any worker who needs EI can access it. We must also fight to make sure we aren't unfairly penalized if we received overpayments. After all, this government has dished out millions to profitable corporations with no strings attached. It is a despicable double-standard to go after vulnerable workers for a few hundred dollars while giant corporations boast about taking millions in public money to line their own pockets. As CBC news reported [Source 1] in December:

"... trucking giant TFI International ... received $63 million in wage subsidies by the end of September, while also paying out $45 million in dividends amid rising profits and a soaring share price. ... 'We are not ashamed,' about taking the wage subsidies, TFI CEO Alain Bédard told a Montreal newspaper in October." 

With or without the vaccine, it will be a long time before the economy fully recovers and we must ensure everyone has the income support they need for as long as needed. Please make a donation now (click here) to fund this important fight - no contribution is too large or small!

Paid Sick Days

After years of campaigning for paid sick days, this year our voice grew even louder with almost every Chief Medical Officer in Canada echoing this important demand [Source 2]! Along with our allies in the Decent Work and Health Network, we've been sounding the alarm on paid sick days since the first days of the pandemic. For months, we have banged pots and pans for paid sick days, organized socially-distanced actions, written letters, sent emails, and made thousands of phone calls both individually and collectively through our many phone ZAPs.

In response, the federal government created the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) that provides $500 per week in pre-tax income, for two one-week periods. This is a step forward and a win for us. But it must be said: CRSB is no substitute for adequate paid sick days legislated by every provincial government (and added to the Canada Labour Code).

As you know from previous campaign updates, to access these two weeks of benefits, a worker must already have lost 50% of their weekly income due to illness, and only after-the-fact can they apply for benefits. This is the kind of barrier health professionals warned against and it explains why the take-up rate for the CRSB has been so low [Source 3].

Tragically, no provincial government to date has legislated adequate paid sick days permanently (at least seven) and during pandemics (at least 14 additional days). But the urgency for implementing this life-saving legislation is more visible than ever. That's why the number of people mobilizing and organizing on this issue is growing right across the country.

Decent Wages

We started this year by calling on the federal government to honour its promise to raise the minimum wage to $15 in 2020. Sadly, the federal government let us down. Tens of thousands of workers in the federally-regulated private sector would have benefitted from a $15 federal minimum wage.

Federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi still claims to support raising the federal minimum wage. So in 2021, we must redouble our efforts to make sure this issue is a top priority next year. Let's not let the federal government get away with ignoring their promise to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 and index it each year to keep up with rising prices.

It is also urgent that we continue the fight to raise the minimum wage everywhere. Companies like Loblaws, Amazon, Walmart, and more raked in billions more in revenue during the pandemic. And although they briefly instituted pandemic pay, most cancelled it in the summer when the federal emergency benefits were set to expire. This callous behaviour shows what we have always known: corporations can easily afford to pay workers decently. But they'd rather issue dividends to shareholders than ensure their workers work safely and live with dignity. 

Let's remember: the best way to make pandemic pay permanent is to raise the minimum wage for all of us! 

Build the decent work movement!

RSVP now for the first decent work organizing meeting in 2021

Rumour has it that we may be facing a federal election early next year. Let's be sure to hit the ground running in 2021. Our next big organizing meeting will take place online on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:00 pm. Register now (click here), put it in your calendar, and then bring a friend or co-worker to the next meeting. 

Help build our fighting fund

2020 has been a difficult year to be sure, but your actions and efforts have made a huge difference. None of our collective work would be possible without your political solidarity and financial generosity. If you are able to help us out financially, please consider doing so. Click here to make a donation. Even $1.00 will make a difference. And if you are already one of our financial supporters, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Rest up and have a safe, healthy, and happy holiday break!

On behalf of the Fight for $15 and Fairness staff team, we salute all of you for everything you do whether it be on the frontlines, at work, from home, or behind the scenes - no action has gone to waste. We hope you get a well-deserved break and have a safe and happy holiday.

See you in 2021!

- Pam 

On behalf of the whole Fight for $15 and Fairness team! 

Source 1: CBC story, access it here
Source 2: Ottawa Citizen article, access it here
Source 3: Toronto star, access it here

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

With only a few weeks left in 2020, it's urgent we raise our voices to demand the Prime Minister honour his promise to create, in 2020, an indexed, federal minimum wage of at least $15 an hour. Will you take action? Send an email right now to the Prime Minister, the federal Minister of Labour, and opposition party leaders: click here.

Let Justin Trudeau know that $15 is long overdue!

Email the Prime Minister now! 
Visit: www.15andFairness.org/ProtectWorkers

US election: Voters support higher minimum wage rates

Despite the tension involved in the US presidential election, there is some good news from local ballot initiatives that can provide inspiration for our decent work movement here in Canada.

Florida for $15

First up, Florida voted by more than 60% to raise the minimum wage from $8.25 to $15.00, and to index the wage to inflation thereafter. The fact that more people in Florida voted to raise the minimum wage than voted for Trump should remind us all that raising the minimum wage is a non-partisan issue, even in the highly polarized USA. Florida's wage increase is expected to benefit over 25% of the state's workforce, helping to close the racial and gender wage gap while simultaneously boosting the economy and state revenue. [1] 

Portland for $15

In Portland, Maine, voters overwhelmingly agreed to raise the minimum wage from $12 to $15 and to ensure workers receive pay at time-and-a-half during declared states of emergency such as COVID-19. This means that frontline workers in Portland may receive a minimum wage of $18 USD by the end of 2020. When fully implemented, this measure will improve the incomes of 36% of Portland's wage and salaried workers. And just like in Florida, raising the minimum wage helps close the racial and gender wage gap and boosts the economy at the same time. [2] [3]

Raising the minimum wage is good for everyone

In fact, new US-based research shows that a $15 federal minimum wage would benefit all low-wage workers, but would especially help Black and women workers, as well as others who face systemic discrimination in the labour market. The research also shows that fears of job-loss and rising prices in response to higher minimum wage rates are misplaced. [4] This fear-mongering comes from big business lobbyists like Chambers of Commerce across North America that (as we know from our experience in Ontario) have consistently opposed minimum wage increases regardless of whether the wage increases are fast or slow. [5] 

Global and local support grows for higher minimum wage

Meanwhile, the popularity of decent minimum wage rates continues to grow in the wake of COVID-19. On September 27, voters in Geneva, Switzerland adopted a minimum wage of 23 Swiss Francs per hour (almost $33 an hour in Canadian dollars!). [6]

Closer to home, 91% of the public in Newfoundland and Labrador support a $15 federal minimum wage. [7] In that province, the minimum wage was adjusted on October 1 from $11.65 to $12.15 an hour, but everyone knows it is simply not enough. 

This sentiment helps explain why 1,400 Dominion workers are currently on strike against the retail giant Loblaws. Support them win paid sick days, fair wages, and job security by signing the petition. The Dominion grocery chain in Newfoundland and Labrador is owned by Galen Weston's Loblaws company. Anger is growing at the fact Loblaws is raking in millions in record-breaking profits during the pandemic, yet over 80% of Loblaws workers across Canada still earn the minimum wage - a wage that can be as low as $11.45 in Saskatchewan; $11.70 in New Brunswick; and $11.90 in Manitoba. 

Prime Minister Trudeau: What are you waiting for?

That's why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to step up. In May, Trudeau said those earning minimum wage during this pandemic deserve a raise. We say it's long past time for the federal government to honour its promise to create, in 2020, a federal minimum wage that would be at least $15 an hour and be adjusted by the cost of living increases every year. Knowing the extent of support for a decent minimum wage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made this promise to get elected in 2019. But time is running out and we need to pull out all the stops to make sure the federal government keeps its promise.

What can YOU do?

1) Email the Prime Minister

Send an email right now and then invite your friends to do the same.
Visit: www.15andFairness.org/ProtectWorkers

2) Join the online organizing meeting Tuesday, November 10.

Come meet other supporters of the $15 & Fairness campaign to plan upcoming actions. Sign up now (click here) to participate on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 pm (ET) at the monthly organizing meeting we co-host with the Ontario Federation of Labour. Upon registering, you will receive the Zoom meeting link as well as dial-in details in case you prefer to attend by phone. Join us!

3) Join the federal phone ZAP November 15

On November 15 at 3:00 pm (ET) we will be meeting up online to make phone calls to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Labour and to our own members of parliament. Register here to get the event link and help us spread the word on Facebook (click here).

4) Call your own MP

Call or meet with your own Member of Parliament. To get their contact information, click here and enter your postal code.

Together, we can win!

Thanks for everything you do! Hope to see you on Tuesday (November 10) at 7:00 PM (ET) at our online organizing meeting. Click here to sign up and receive the Zoom meeting link, and see below for the agenda!

Sources:

[1] Mother Jones on $15 victory in Florida 

[2] News Centre Maine on $15 victory in Portland

[3] People First Portland campaign website

[4] New York Times article on why $15 matters for racial justice

[5] Washington Post article on why Chambers of Commerce oppose minimum wage hikes, despite popularity even among small business owners. 

[6] CTV news story on Switzerland.

[7] Telegram article on local support for $15 in Newfoundland and Labrador  

With COVID-19 infections on the rise, it is increasingly clear that workers cannot simply wait for governments to protect us - we must act now, organize now, and support each other every step of the way.

Here are three crucial fights that you can support right now:

Pay up Hotel X
Hotel X owes a staggering $1.4 million to workers it let go during the pandemic. Sign and share this petition, and scroll below for more info  https://www.15andfairness.org/payuphotelx 

Demand decency for Loblaws workers
In Newfoundland and Labrador, grocery store workers at a chain owned by Galen Weston’s Loblaws have been on strike since August to make the pandemic pay permanent, to win paid sick days, and job security. Sign and share this petition (click here), and read on about upcoming actions.

Full immigration status for migrant workers
From farms to food processing, and from health care to education, migrant workers are essential workers. Without full immigration status, these workers face deportation whenever they speak out for decent work. Sign and share this statement, and scroll for more info: www.StatusforAll.ca

While the pandemic worsens, it is shocking that not a single government in Canada has legislated adequate, permanent, and universally accessible paid sick days for workers - despite public health officials calling on workers to stay home when they are not feeling well. This advice has been standard for decades, especially during flu season. But it is absolutely crucial right now. 

Just last May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rightly said: "If you are risking your health to keep this country moving and you’re making minimum wage, you deserve a raise.” [1] Yet the federal government has failed to implement its own promise to deliver "a federal minimum wage of at least $15 per hour, starting in 2020 and rising with inflation, with provisions to ensure that where provincial or territorial minimum wages are higher, that wage will prevail.” [2]  

Across Canada, minimum wage earners have been essential to keep the economy in motion. Yet corporations like Loblaws and Sobey’s cancelled the meagre $2.00/hour pandemic pay they briefly granted to their employees, even as corporate profit rates sky-rocketed. [3] 

Fortunately, workers are fighting back. 

Pay up Hotel X!

As we recently reported, Hotel X in Toronto is one of several luxury hotels around the world owned by Henry Kallan. To maximize profit, Hotel X relies on third party contractors for its staff. When Hotel X switched to a different sub-contractor, 200 workers were let go in the middle of the pandemic and now the employer is refusing to pay the $1.4 million in termination pay these workers are owed.   

Share on Facebook - on Twitter - on Instagram

The good news is workers at Hotel X are fighting back. Let’s not let them fight alone. Here’s what you can do:

• Sign the email petition to tell Hotel X owner Henry Kallan to do the right thing! 
• Call Hotel X by dialling General Manager Fariyal Hasham: 647-475-9269, and tell them to pay up. 
• Come to the socially-distanced action on Friday, October 30 (4:00 pm) at the corner of Lakeshore Blvd & Ontario Place Blvd in Toronto, to show your support: click here to sign up and click here to spread the word on Facebook. 
• Warn Hotel X patrons on social media by tagging @HotelXToronto on social media using the hashtag #PayUpHotelX or leaving a review at Google or Trip Advisor

Tell Loblaws: Make pandemic pay permanent

In Newfoundland and Labrador, grocery store workers at Dominion - a chain owned by Galen Weston’s Loblaws - have been on strike since August 22. These workers are on strike to make pandemic pay permanent (the minimum wage in Newfoundland and Labrador was just adjusted from $11.65 to $12.15 on October 1); for paid sick days; and for job security. As Loblaws rakes in record profits, these demands are more than reasonable - and should be extended to all workers in the sector. Let’s help these workers win their fight: Click here to sign the petition, watch and share this fantastic video, and spread the word. 

Legislate the federal minimum wage NOW! 

Prime Minister Trudeau promised to deliver a federal minimum wage of at least $15, and indexed to inflation in 2020 [2]. With only 10 weeks remaining, time is running out. Let’s not let the Prime Minister get away with ignoring the workers who are counting on this wage increase.

• Call the Prime Minister 613 992-4211 to demand action.
• Organize a phone zap in your riding. Email the details to [email protected], and we’ll help spread the word. 

We need to call every Member of Parliament across Canada to let them know we want the federal government to honour its promise to enact a $15 federal minimum wage in 2020. 

And if you live in York Centre or Toronto Centre where two federal by-elections are taking place on October 26, be sure to vote for candidates who will fight for a decent federal minimum wage, for legislated paid sick days, and for full immigration status for all of us. For more information about candidates and how to vote, click here. 

Nov 1: Raise the call! Full immigration status for ALL!

COVID-19 continues to spread, but support and services for essential migrants are missing. Migrant workers, students, refugees, undocumented people, sex workers and others are being turned away from healthcare, emergency income supports, decent work, and other basic services at a time when we need it the most. Fees for education and other services are incredibly high. We need to build a fair society with equal rights and that means FULL & PERMANENT IMMIGRATION STATUS FOR ALL. 

Join actions on November 1 and share on Facebook:

• VANCOUVER, 4:00 pm Pacific time, Grandview Park https://www.facebook.com/events/374320803713323/
• TORONTO, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Eastern time, Dufferin Grove Park https://www.facebook.com/events/346102000173983
• NIAGARA, 7:30 pm - Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/events/335022477573937

For more information visit www.MigrantRights.ca/Nov1 

Nov 10: Join our next online meeting 

There is growing momentum for safe and healthy workplaces for all of us. Join us and the Ontario Federation of Labour for our monthly organizing meeting on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 pm to help us plan next steps. Please click here to sign up and get emailed the Zoom Link for the online meeting. You can also help us spread the word on Facebook by clicking here.

**Sources mentioned:

[1] "If you are risking your health to keep this country moving and you’re making minimum wage, you deserve a raise.” -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, May 7, 2020. See here. 

[2] See page 12 of the federal Liberal Party platform document. 

[3] See the Canadian Centre for Policy Report (click here) exposing how Canada's top billionaires became $37 billion richer since start of the pandemic 

On October 1, Ontario’s adult general minimum wage was adjusted to $14.25 to reflect last year’s cost of living increase.

Important as annual cost of living adjustments are - and we should all be proud of winning this change back in 2014 - this October's adjustment should have been more, bringing in a minimum wage of $15.65. By cancelling $15 minimum wage and freezing annual adjustments for 2 years, Premier Doug Ford has stolen millions of dollars from frontline workers and transferred it to corporate profits. 

Click to share on Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

Clearly we can’t rely on politicians to protect our rights at work. That’s why it is so powerful to see workers fighting back and taking on their own bad bosses. But they need our support to win. Will you take action to improve protections for workers and fend off greedy employers? 

Hotel X workers fight back 

Over 200 workers who cleaned, cooked and served food at Hotel X in downtown Toronto were let go in the middle of the pandemic and have yet to see a dime of the $1.4 million in termination pay they are owed. 

This luxury hotel now claims that it has no responsibility because the workers were subcontracted, and got terminated when Hotel X switched to a different contractor. Bad bosses like Hotel X hide behind gaps in the labour laws to exploit workers and pocket more profit. Let's make sure this employer knows that hotel workers are not alone! Take action:

• Share today's front page Toronto Star story (click here to read) that exposes the hotel, and spread the word on social media by tagging @HotelXToronto and using the hashtag: #PayUpHotelX
• Sign the email petition to tell Hotel X owner Henry Kallan to do the right thing!
• Post a review on Google or Trip Advisor to warn Hotel X customers

Workers in Newfoundland and Labrador take on Galen Weston’s Loblaws empire 

Since August 22, 1,400 Dominion grocery store workers in Newfoundland and Labrador have been on strike for fair wages, paid sick days, and job security. Dominion is owned by billionaire Galen Weston's retail giant Loblaws, which cancelled the $2/hr pandemic pay in June despite its record profits during COVID. 75% of Dominion workers earn less than $15/hr and the majority have only part-time hours.

We can not forget that Galen Weston was also a vocal opponent of raising the Ontario minimum wage to $15/hour, and profited handsomely when Premier Ford cancelled the $15 minimum wage. If Dominion workers can make pandemic pay permanent, or win paid sick days, this will inspire others to fight and to win these basic protections for ALL workers. 

Let’s do everything we can to help Dominion workers win their strike. Here are three things you can do:

• Watch and share this video (click here) 
• Sign this petition, click here.
• Post your own "I support Dominion workers" selfie or video. Please tag @Loblaws @Unifor Local 597 @UniforTheUnion and use hashtags: #15andFairness #fairpayforever #CanLab #GalenWeston  

Organize with us, join our upcoming meeting!

We need you, to make sure all workers get the protection they need to survive the pandemic! Come meet other supporters of the $15 & Fairness campaign and plan out upcoming events. Sign up now (click here) to participate on Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00 pm (EDT) at the monthly organizing meeting we co-host with the Ontario Federation of Labour. Upon registering, you will receive the Zoom meeting link as well as dial-in details in case you prefer to attend by phone. Join us!

Organizing works! Thanks to you speaking out and the strategic pressure from the federal NDP, the Trudeau government has agreed to provide a minimum of $500 per week for Employment Insurance (EI) and the new Recovery Benefits. This is a huge relief for the two million people who were preparing for a 20% cut in income support on September 27. Clearly, our phone calls and emails have worked! 

But there’s more to be done. Take a moment right now to call your Member of Parliament (MP) (click here).

We must keep the pressure up to ensure migrant workers also have access to these supports, that the new improvements to EI are made permanent and the Liberals keep their promise for a $15 federal minimum wage!

Call your Member of Parliament right now. 

Visit our website now to call YOUR MP with just one click! Once you type in your phone number our system will call and automatically transfer you to the voicemail of your elected official. Tell them:

• You are glad that the government will maintain $500 in weekly income support through EI and the Recovery Benefits, but we need to ensure everyone gets access to them, including migrant workers. 
• Canada relies on migrants for many essential jobs, while also severely restricting access to full immigration status and equal rights. All migrants need to be granted permanent residence status so they can receive income supports and speak up against unsafe jobs.
• The federal government must keep its election promise for a $15 minimum wage in 2020, that is indexed to inflation.
• The temporary changes made to EI, which create a minimum floor of benefits of $500 for at least 26 weeks must be made permanent. We must have an EI program that works for all. 

Share on Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

Call now (click here) to have your voice heard! The government is paying attention, let's raise our voices.

September 30: Post-Secondary Education STRIKE for Black & Indigenous lives.

Right now a long-overdue conversation is happening nationally and globally on the persistent and systemic nature of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism within our communities. We know  post-secondary institutions are one of the major institutions that need to change. 

Our post-secondary institutions “pride” themselves on equity, diversity, and inclusion while simultaneously targeting, harassing, and oppressing Indigenous, Black, and people of color on their campuses. Enough is enough. We believe it is time TO STRIKE. 

JOIN US online for a virtual strike on September 30th from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm: click here now: https://s30strike.eventbritestudio.com 

To RSVP and share on Facebook (click here), for Instagram (click here). 

September 30: Make Brock University a Decent Work campus! 

This Brock University webinar will be hosted via Zoom on Wednesday, September 30th from 1:00 pm to 2:30pm. Join us to find out about opportunities to get involved in the Niagara region.

We will be discussing how Brock University was created by the labour movement, the current state of workers' rights at Brock, and a proposal to make Brock a $15 & Fairness campus. We stand in solidarity with #AllOutSeptember30th because the fight for decent work is also a fight for racial justice. 

Please SHARE on Facebook here & e-mail [email protected] to get the Zoom link! 

October 13: Join the next $15 and Fairness and OFL decent work organizing meeting:

Each month, the Fight for $15 and Fairness and the Ontario Federation of Labour co-host an online organizing meeting so we can fight to improve the wage and working conditions of all workers. The next meeting is taking place on Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00 pm (EST). Please join us and bring a friend! You can sign up right now, click here. You will be emailed the Zoom link for the online meeting upon registering.

Essential workers say: “Compliments don't pay the rent.”

TORONTO, September 21, 2020 -- For the many poorly paid frontline heroes who keep our economy running, Ontario's minimum wage adjustment scheduled for October 1, 2020 should have provided much better financial relief.

 Instead, after Doug Ford’s 34-month freeze, Ontario’s minimum wage will still fall below Statistics Canada’s low-income measure of poverty.

"Had Ford not cancelled the $15 minimum wage, which was previously scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2019, Ontario’s minimum wage would have been $15.65 on October 1,” said Pam Frache, Coordinator of the Fight for $15 & Fairness.

“In effect, Premier Doug Ford cut the hourly wages of essential workers by $1.40/hr,” said Frache. “For a single hour worked by the more than one million minimum wage earners in Ontario, this represents a loss to workers and a windfall to corporations of nearly $1.5 million. This is a slap in the face to essential, frontline, workers who put their health and safety on the line to keep our communities clean, fed and cared for.”

According to Statistics Canada, between 1998 and 2018, the proportion of employees working for minimum wage in big businesses increased by almost 300%. By contrast, the proportion of workers paid the minimum wage at small businesses decreased over the same period.

“I feel like there’s a huge gap here between words and deeds,” said Rechev Browne, a grocery store worker in Toronto. “One the hand, Doug Ford heaps praise upon frontline workers like me, but on the other hand, he cancelled the $15 minimum wage and scrapped paid sick days. Honestly, compliments don’t pay the rent or keep us safe,” said Browne. 

For minimum wage earners in federally-regulated sectors, however, a long overdue raise, may be within reach.

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 in 2020 and ensure annual adjustments to keep up with inflation. This promise was re-iterated by federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi in a statement issued on Labour Day,” said Frache. “Workers from across the country will be listening closely to the throne speech to make sure our elected representatives keep their word."

Organizers from the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign are available for comment.

 -30-

For more information or to arrange interviews:
Nil Sendil
Communications Coordinator, Fight for $15 & Fairness
[email protected] l 647-710-5795

Thanks to your incredible effort, there is growing momentum for safe and healthy workplaces for all. From paid sick days to migrant justice, and from decent wages to extending CERB, your actions are making a difference. 

But we can’t stop now. 
Take action: Call your MP

Join us in calling your Member of Parliament (MP) to keep the pressure up (click here to take action). We need to ensure all workers receive at least $500 per week, either through EI, through income support programs, or through wages. We need to fight to ensure all workers can access these programs - and an easy way to do so is for the federal government to implement full immigration status for all.

Decisions are being made right now about what the federal government will do in the next parliament. Will you make the phone call that could change history? 

Click here to call your MP now, and let them know you want them to:

• Honour the government’s promise to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour;
• Ensure all workers get access to the income support they need for as long as they need it - this means full immigration status for all; 
• Raise the federal weekly income support from $400 to $500. We can’t survive on less. 

To support you in completing this action, we've created a tool that will allow you to phone your MP with just one click! Visit our website and type in your phone number, so our system can call and automatically transfer you to the voicemail of your Member of Parliament. **We've also prepared example speaking points you can use while you deliver your message.

Can’t stop, won’t stop organizing for justice

We need you at our next online organizing meeting: Tuesday, September 15 at 7:00 pm. Please register now by clicking here. 

At Tuesday’s meeting we will pull together the threads that will make our movement indivisible. We will link the urgent fight to end deadly anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism with the struggle for decent work in our communities and on post-secondary campuses. We will link the fight to stop climate change with the need to raise wages for low-carbon jobs like child and elder care, and build affordable housing with the highest environmental standards. We will link the urgent need for full immigration status for all to our ability to protect ourselves and our communities.

But to do this, we need to activate more people. Join our next online organizing meeting on September 15 -- and bring a friend! Click here to sign up! 

At the meeting, we will be getting action updates from:

• Sarom Rho, organizer with Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change on the pan-Canadian day of action September 20 (Learn more: https://migrantrights.ca/sep20/)    
• Kendall Mar, Fridays for Future organizer, on the global climate strike September 25 (Learn more: https://fridaysforfuture.org/september25/) 
• Kien Saningong Azinwi, president of the York Federation of Students on the pan-Canadian strike against anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism September 30 (Sign up here to join the action.) 

With just days before schools across Canada are set to open, there is growing concern that our education system could become the next hotspot, spreading COVID-19 and other illnesses in our communities. 

For safe and healthy schools, we need paid sick days

Public health specialists are sounding the alarm advising parents to keep their children home at the first sign of any illness. [1]

But a report published by the Decent Work and Health Network shows that almost 60% of Canada’s workforce have no access to paid sick days. Those workers denied paid sick days are most likely to be in low-wage work, on the frontlines delivering services, with the least ability to work from home. These factors put them at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. [2]

Without paid sick days, few parents can afford to stay home and lose income when they or their kids are unwell. Because of systemic discrimination in the labour market, workers of colour, women, Indigenous workers and workers with disabilities are over-represented in precarious jobs. So paid sick days and decent work are also a matter of racial, gender, and disability justice. 

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are spiking in many provinces and Canada’s public health officers are now warning of a “potential surge in cases several times worse than what we’ve seen so far in Canada.” [3]

Will you join the August 29 day of action to demand paid sick days? Click here to let us know you’re coming.

Precarious work is a public health risk

Shockingly, both the public and private education systems contain many of the same risks that contributed to the explosion of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, including the fact many workers have no paid sick days and are working part-time or occasionally so they need to work in multiple locations to earn enough income to survive. The extensive use of supply or substitute teachers is just one example. [3]

Federal Sickness Benefit falls short

Unfortunately, the recently announced federal Recovery Sickness Benefit falls short of what workers need to keep us safe -- and far short of what health professionals have been calling for. 

In order to apply for the benefit, a worker must already have lost 60% of their weekly income due to illness, and only after-the-fact can they apply for benefits. This is the kind of barrier health professionals warned against. Any requirement that puts peoples’ income at risk acts as a deterrent -- especially for parents and those in low-wage jobs.

Furthermore, the federal program is only temporary, which makes little sense since we know flu seasons occur annually and since most health experts predict a second wave of COVID months from now. We can certainly anticipate future epidemics and we should be putting effective, lasting policies in place to reduce the health and economic impacts of outbreaks.

So, while the federal Sickness Benefit will be useful for some workers, it doesn't go far enough for the workers most at risk now and in the future. That’s why we are redoubling our efforts to demand permanent, paid sick days -- before it’s too late. 

Click here to send an email to the Premier and Prime Minister.

August 29 - Day of action for paid sick days and #SafeSeptember

On Saturday, August 29, parents, health providers, educators, frontline workers, and community members are taking action to demand legislated paid sick days for all. We can curb the spread of illnesses like COVID-19, but only if every single one of us can stay home at the first sign of illness, whether they or their family member is sick.  

Will you join us on August 29? Click here to register, and read on for more inspiration.

Here’s what you can do: 

• Join or organize an action in your community. Scroll down for a list of upcoming events.
• Send an email (click here) and ask 3 friends to also send it.
• Call your provincial representative to demand legislated paid sick days for all. Type your postal code here to find the phone number for your MLA/MPP/etc.
• Post a picture on social media calling for at least 7 paid sick days and an additional 14 paid days during public health outbreaks. There are lots of printable posters available here. 

Click here for printable leaflets.

Join an action on August 29

Bracebridge

• 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (EDT)
• Monk Public School - 250 Wellington Street
• To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Scarborough

• 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm (EDT)
• 3750 Lawrence Avenue East
• To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Sudbury

• 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm (EDT)
• Memorial Park, 163 Minto Street 
• To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Toronto

• 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm (EDT)
• Dufferin Station (southwest corner)
• To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Vancouver

• 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm (PDT)
• Queen Alexandra Elementary School, 1300 East Broadway
• To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

For a list of other upcoming decent work events near you, visit our Facebook page here or our website here. 

[1]  https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/08/24/no-more-gold-stars-for-perfect-school-attendance-if-youve-got-the-sniffles-just-stay-home.html   

[2] https://www.decentworkandhealth.org/beforetoolate

[3] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/supply-teachers-covid-ontario-1.5683932 

[4] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid19-pandemic-modelling-tam-fall-peak-1.5686250 

Thanks to the public outcry you helped mobilize, workers across the country won important - but temporary - improvements to income support programs. We need to keep fighting to ensure that all of us - including migrant workers - have at least $500 a week in income for as long as long as we need it. Click here to email your Member of Parliament now. 

CERB: Extended for four weeks

Millions of workers breathed a sigh of relief on August 20 when the federal government announced the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) would continue for four more weeks. For those of us who were days away from losing our income, this announcement was a lifeline - at least until September 26.

New programs & EI changes are better - but temporary

The government announced temporary changes to Employment Insurance (EI) regulations that makes the system accessible to more people and create a new floor of weekly benefits (click here to learn more). The government also introduced a parallel program for those who can’t get EI. These new rules improve the current system, but they must be extended and made permanent to be truly effective.

Unfortunately, the announced weekly income support of $400 falls short of the $500 we were pushing for. But there is still time to call on the government to ensure all of us get the $500 we need. This temporary floor is better than what many of us would have received under the old EI rules, where millions would be denied any access and more than a quarter-million would only have received between $100 and $200 per week. 

The federal government has, in effect, implemented a longstanding demand to simplify the EI rules by announcing uniform national standards for accessing EI. But turning the best of these temporary measures into permanent improvements will require a big fight against corporate lobbyists.

Email your Member of Parliament right now to demand workers, including migrant workers, get the support they need for as long as they need it.

No time to lose: Prorogation means it’s go time

The federal government has prorogued parliament. This means all old business ends, and a new parliamentary session begins on September 23. The Throne Speech, where the government sets out its vision for the new parliament, will be subjected to a vote. In a minority parliament, at least one other sitting political party must support the government’s new vision. Without that support, the government falls and new election is called.

The stakes between now and September 23 are high. 

Opposition parties will likely make demands on the government in exchange for their support. Which demands are included in the government’s vision will depend on the government’s assessment of the public mood. 

Will the government implement Big Business demands to weaken labour standards, cut corporate taxes, reduce spending on public services, and privatize others? 

Or, will it adopt a big vision for a successful recovery that centres decent work for all? Will it move forward with permanent improvements to Employment Insurance, a higher federal minimum wage, better labour laws, more investment in public services like health care, housing, and education and real action to address the climate crisis? 

What the government decides depends on what we all do right now.

Join us to take action!
Email your Member of Parliament to demand workers, including migrant workers, get the support they need for as long as they need it.

The Liberal government has scheduled a cabinet retreat for September 14. We have a window between now and September 14 to push our elected representatives to fight for us. We want our MPs to push the best possible vision for a new parliament. That means essential income supports for everyone and a higher federal minimum wage. 

There's not a moment to lose! Please take a moment right now to email your MP!

Learn more

If you have questions about how the announced changes to income support will affect you or if you are dealing with other workplace problems sign up now (click here to register) to join the free online workshop we're hosting with the Workers' Action Centre on Wednesday August 26 at 6:00 PM (EDT). To read more about the federal government's plans for Employment Insurance and other income support, click here.

For a list of upcoming actions and events near you, visit our Facebook page here or our website here. 

In just 17 days, the Emergency Response Benefits for the first cohort of workers who lost their income as a result of COVID-19 will end. 

The federal government says workers will be moved over to the Employment Insurance (EI) system, but we know EI is completely inadequate.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Member of Parliament no one can survive on less than $500 a week -- click here to sign the petition. 

As it stands more than two-thirds of the current 4.7 million CERB recipients will NOT qualify for EI (Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) . 

Those who do receive EI benefits will have to survive on 55% of previous income. For low-wage and part-time workers, this means financial ruin. 

Among the nearly 1.5 million workers who might get EI benefits, more than half will receive less than $500 per week and their average weekly EI benefit will be $312. An average weekly benefit of $312 means many thousands of workers will get even less.

This is not only catastrophic for workers, but also terrible for the economy. As the Toronto Star Editorial Board recently concluded:

"… Pushing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty would risk stalling the recovery that’s now underway. About half the jobs that were lost in the depths of the lockdown in April have already come back, and we can expect unemployment to keep falling. But if the purchasing power that was pumped into the economy through CERB is suddenly cut off, that could plunge the country into a prolonged recession."

That’s why we all have an interest in making sure workers have the income support they need, for as long as they need it. But there’s not a moment to lose. 

The federal government is making decisions right now and we need you, to raise your voice. Will you contact your member of parliament to demand urgent action? Please take a moment right now to sign our new petition, click here.

After signing the petition at www.15andfairness.org/protectworkers, please consider visiting your MP to bring this message directly to them. Click here to access posters & other resources to plan your visit.

#SafeSeptember must mean paid sick days for ALL

More than half the workforce in Canada has no access to permanent paid sick days. This fact has exacerbated the public health crisis caused by COVID-19. 

And the crisis is set to intensify as governments push schools to re-open -- but without the necessary funding for smaller classes, more staff, and health and safety protocols. Crucially, paid sick days for all of us must be the cornerstone of a #SafeSeptember. Click here to see what parents and educators are calling for, to ensure schools can open safely.

Without employer-paid sick days, parents cannot afford to stay home with an unwell child and they have little choice but to send their sick child to school. This is dangerous and costly at the best of times, but during a pandemic it’s deadly.

Meanwhile, a shocking number of workers on the frontlines of the early childhood, elementary, secondary and post-secondary education systems themselves also have NO paid sick days!

That’s why the Fight for $15 and Fairness is organizing another pan-Canadian day of action on August 29 to demand for paid sick days for all. Let us know you’ll take action on August 29 by registering now: click here. 

Join the next online organizing meeting, August 18

More than ever, it is crucial that we keep organizing to win decent work during the pandemic to protect our communities. As the recent expose by Toronto Star reporters Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Jennifer Yang reveals -- precarious employment is itself a vector for spreading disease. 

While we fight to ensure a $500 weekly minimum income and paid sick days for all, we must also take on the long standing racism in the labour market. As human rights lawyer Anthony Morgan explains:  

"Black and other racialized people in Canada were already discriminated against in the workforce before the pandemic. They are now overrepresented in the lower-paid and precarious frontline jobs that pose the highest risk of contracting COVID-19. … So, if we really want to make Black Lives Matter, we have to make Black Jobs Matter too."

Please join us - and the Ontario Federation of Labour - at the August 18 online organizing meeting. And when you come, bring a friend! Click here to register now. 

Thank you for your ongoing support! For a list of upcoming actions and events near you, visit our Facebook page here or our website here. 

From fighting for permanent, employer-paid sick days for ALL, to demanding an extension of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), this was an incredible week full of action. Thanks to everyone, who participated online and offline! Let's keep this momentum up: read on to find out how we can collectively increase the pressure on politicians.

We need your input - take the CERB survey!

Millions of workers across the country will lose access to CERB at the end of August. But the pandemic is not over and many of us work in sectors that have either opened up a little or are not expected to open for months.

To get a more complete picture of what workers are experiencing and what changes are required, the Workers' Action Centre (member of the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign) created an important survey. This survey (click here) is intended for workers who have accessed CERB or who still hope to access CERB. If you are one of these workers, please take a moment to fill in the short survey, which only takes a few minutes. 

If you know others who should be invited to complete the survey, please forward it to them. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday, July 31. Click here to complete the survey - then share it with others. 

Visit your Member of Parliament!

The federal government is making decisions right now about the future of CERB, as well as other income support policies. We urgently need to deliver a message to our federal Members of Parliament (MPs) that they must extend CERB to all who need it, for as long as necessary. 

Can you visit a local Member of Parliament this week or next -- click here to tell us when you can and access resources like posters that can be used to decorate their offices. Visits are already planned to MP Marco Mendocino's office this Saturday, July 25 (learn more) and MP Bill Morneau's office on Monday, July 27 (learn more) -- we need your help to make sure every MP hears us! 

When we visit our MPs, let’s also demand meaningful improvements to our Employment Insurance system. Too many workers cannot access EI when they need it because they don't get enough hours, or because arbitrary rules disqualify them from their entitlements. Still others may qualify for EI, but it runs out before they find work or it only provides the equivalent of 55% of previous earnings which is not enough to live on. Honestly, who can survive on 55% of the minimum wage or 55% of part-time hours? So let’s agree to visit as many Members of Parliament as soon as possible! If you can help out, click here.

Download posters here.

Everything you need to visit - and decorate - your local MP office is available on our resource page here: https://www.15andfairness.org/resources. Be sure to snap a picture and share it on social media. Please use the hashtags: #ExtendCERB #15andFairness #CdnPoli

Can't physically visit your MP's office? Or, want to keep building the pressure? We are planning a cross-country phone ZAP on Tuesday, August 11 where we all call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, cabinet ministers, and MPs to demand protections, fairness and adequate income for all. Sign up now for the phone ZAP to get more details (click here) and mark your calendar!

Keep fighting for paid sick days!

This past Saturday, hundreds of us from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia took action to demand permanent, employer-paid paid sick days for everyone! Click here to see pictures from across the country. 

In response to ongoing public pressure for paid sick days, the federal government recently announced they will bring temporary income support for workers with COVID-related work absences. Even without the full details available, we know this temporary measure falls far short of what the majority of workers need to protect themselves and our communities. Every worker needs the financial ability to follow medical advice to stay home when sick. This is true for both COVID-19, and any other day-to-day or short term illnesses. We need this protection always; now (during the pandemic) and after. 

This is why we are redoubling our efforts across the country. Let’s start spreading the word that we aren’t stopping until every single worker has an adequate number of paid sick days permanently. Sign up now to join the Day of Action for Paid Sick Days on Saturday, August 29 (click here). 

Join us at an action near you:

Your participation is crucial, to win decent work for all. Will you join us at our next online organizing meeting on Tuesday, August 18 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm EDT? Register now (click here) to get the log-in info: you can join online by dialing-in.

We meet every four weeks from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Subsequent meetings are scheduled for: September 15, October 13, and November 10. Since moving our organizing meetings online in April, hundreds of us have been involved in strategizing and planning. Scroll below to learn more about upcoming actions you can join us at.

July 25, at 2:00 pm - Visit Eglinton Lawrence MP Marco Mendicino

Help send a message to Eglinton Lawrence MP Marco Mendicino. Let him know we expect him to play a leading role in ensuring full immigration status for all, extending CERB, improving Employment Insurance, and honouring his government’s promise to implement a $15 federal minimum wage in 2020. Click here to sign up, here to spread the word on Facebook.

July 27, at 11:00 am - Visit Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau

Help send a message to Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau. Let him know we expect him to play a leading role in ensuring full immigration status for all, extending CERB, improving Employment Insurance, and honouring his government’s promise to implement a $15 federal minimum wage in 2020. Click here to sign up, here to spread the word on Facebook.

July 29, noon onward - Safe schools mean paid sick days for all! 

Ontario parents and education workers are uniting to ensure that schools have the funding, preparation, staffing, and training to safely re-open. Parents and education workers know parents need paid sick days so they can stay home when their children are sick. Parents and education workers also know that in the school system, every worker must have paid sick days as well, from bus drivers and crossing guards, to cleaners and educational assistants. Click here to find out how you can participate across Ontario.

August 3 at 2:00 pm - March for Black Students

Please take a stand to help transform our education system and combat anti-Black racism in schools. Although some steps have been made towards equity in education in Ontario schools, there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done in regards to mitigating and eliminating systemic anti-Black racism. Click here to join the action in Toronto, and here to learn more.

August 5 from 7:00 pm - WEBINAR: Pride goes on
Join the OFL Solidarity & Pride Committee for a webinar on the ways COVID-19 has been affecting 2SLGBTQI+ communities. The webinar will explore the ways that liberation groups can work together in this pivotal time and our intersectional commitment to justice for all. Click here to join the webinar and learn more. 

Your participation in todays’s day of action for paid sick days is crucial.

This is especially so in light of the federal government's announcement on temporary income support for COVID-related absences.

The announcement shows politicians are clearly feeling the heat to deliver on paid sick days. Our organizing is making a difference.

But we need to be crystal clear: while some workers will benefit from the temporary, COVID-related leave, these half-measures fall far short of what workers actually need to protect their own health -- and ours. 

Click here to join the day of action on today. 

Click to share on Facebook -- Share on Twitter -- Share on Instagram

Here’s all we know about the government's plans: 

The Government of Canada will fund a new temporary income support program, at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion. The new program will support workers who do not already have access to other paid sick leave. Where not already available, provinces and territories will establish job-protected sick leave, through regulation or legislation, that allows workers to take up to 10 days leave related to COVID-19.

No public subsidies for wealthy corporations.

The federal government is letting profitable corporations off the hook by paying the entire cost of the temporary measures from federal revenues.

Profitable corporations like Loblaws, Amazon, and Walmart can afford to provide adequate, permanent, paid sick days for all their frontline workers. The same is true for multinational franchise operations like Tim Hortons, McDonalds, and Burger King.

That's why we continue to fight to ensure employer-paid sick days are mandated through employment standard legislation provincially, and federally through the Canada Labour Code.

Temporary support is not enough.

Every worker needs employer-paid sick days -- not just during COVID 19, but on a permanent basis. We need paid sick days to care for sick children and elderly parents. We need paid sick days so that we can stay home to prevent the spread of seasonal flu or other infectious illnesses in workplaces, in classrooms and at child care centres. Click here to read the statement from health providers.

As it stands, the measures announced on Thursday will subsidize profitable corporations, yet leave millions of workers behind. Those few who do benefit will lose them as soon as the COVID crisis has passed.

We all deserve much better.

Let’s take inspiration from the ground breaking legislation just adopted in Colorado and keep fighting to make sure everyone is safe. 

Click here to call your elected provincial representative 

Register here to join the day of action on Saturday. 

Scroll down for actions:

Nova Scotia: 

Halifax - Saturday, July 18 at 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm (ADT)

Meet outside Sobeys, 2651 Windsor Street

Hosted by Halifax Workers' Action Centre

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Saskatchewan: 

Online action

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

CLICK HERE TO SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK  

British Columbia: 

Vancouver - Saturday, July 18, at 11:00 am to 1:30 pm (PDT)

1070 - 1641 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC

Hosted by Retail Action Network

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Victoria - Saturday, July 18, at 11:00 am to 1:30 pm (PDT)

880 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC

Hosted by Retail Action Network

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Ontario: 

Barrie - Saturday, July 18 at 11:30 to 1:00 pm (EDT)

Meridian Place, 30 Simcoe Street, Barrie, ON

Hosted by Fight for $15 and Fairness - Barrie 

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

King City - Saturday, July 18 at 11:30 to 12:00 noon (EDT)

Stephen Lecce’s MPP office - 2220 King Road, King City, ON

Hosted by Fight for $15 and Fairness and Decent Work and Health Network

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Toronto - Saturday, July 18 at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm (EDT)

Robin Martin’s MPP office - 2882 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON 

Hosted by Fight for $15 and Fairness and Decent Work and Health Network

For more information and to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here. 

Toronto - Saturday, July 18 at 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm (EDT)

Tim Hortons, 1084 Islington Ave, Toronto, ON

Hosted by Fight for $15 and Fairness and Decent Work and Health Network

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Paid sick days actions will also take place on Tuesday, July 21! 

Scarborough - Tuesday, July 21 at 10:00 am to 11:30 am (EDT)

Christina Mitas’s MPP office -  2063 Lawrence Ave. East, Scarborough

Hosted by OPSEU Local 5111

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Scarborough - Tuesday, July 21 at 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm (EDT)

Raymond Cho’s MPP office - 4559 Sheppard Ave. East, Scarborough

Hosted by OPSEU Local 5111

For more information or to RSVP and share on Facebook, click here.

Join us for the next decent work organizing meeting on July 21! 

Every four weeks, the Fight for $15 and Fairness, along with the Ontario Federation of Labour, host online organizing meetings. This is where we share experiences and plan actions - and we need your input! 

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21 at 7:00 pm EDT. Register now by clicking here. To RSVP and share on Facebook, click here. 

Save the dates! The upcoming online organizing meetings are scheduled for August 18 at 7:00 pm EDT; September 15 at 7:00 pm EDT; and October 13 at 7:00 pm EDT.

See you at the next one! 

If we have learned anything from the COVID-19 crisis so far it is that low-wage, unstable jobs anywhere are a threat to public health everywhere. The movement for decent work has never been more important if we are to protect ourselves and our communities.

With every step politicians take to allow more businesses to open come new reports tracing COVID-19 hot spots to workplaces notorious for precarious employment, from hardware stores to nail salons and from long-term care homes to greenhouses. 

It’s obvious we need real laws, with real teeth, and real enforcement, so that all workers can take action to protect themselves and their communities. This is why we continue to fight for:

• Full immigration status for all
• Employer-paid sick days for safer workplaces
• CERB and the right to refuse unsafe work

Full immigration status for all

Since our June 14 actions, another migrant worker, Juan Lopez Chaparro, has died from COVID-19. Earlier in June, Bonifacio Eugenio Romero and Rogelio Muñoz Santos, both died after contracting COVID-19. 

There are now more than 800 COVID-19 cases among migrant farm workers. And in a shocking display of cruelty, the Ontario government has decided that those who test positive for COVID-19 - but who don’t show symptoms - should continue to work. Given the conditions on Ontario farms and greenhouses, this will be a death sentence. It shows the government is more concerned with profit making than with our health and safety.

This is happening because workers do not have full immigration status.

Join the July 4, Cross-Country Day of Action to demand status for ALL: click here to sign up

Without full rights, workers who organize for safe and decent work continue to be at risk of deportation. This makes it much more difficult for workers to protect themselves or speak out about dangerous working and living conditions. 

Not only is deportation a direct threat to those essential workers, it is a direct threat to our movement by depriving us of strong leaders whose help we need to win better workplace protections for everyone.

That’s why real health and safety for all of us means ending two-tiered immigration status.

Here are three ways you can make a difference right now:

1. Call the Prime Minister and your Member of Parliament now. Visit: https://migrantrights.ca/callforstatus/
2. Join this Saturday's Cross-Country Day of Action: https://migrantrights.ca/july4/. If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area, join us at 3:00 pm for a socially-distanced rally outside the constituency office of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Marco Mendocino at 511 Lawrence Avenue West (click here for the Toronto rally details). 
3. Print and post these beautiful posters (download here) in your neighbourhood or around your local Member of Parliament office, and post a selfie. 

Employer-paid sick days for safer workplaces

“Companies should be required to provide paid sick leave to every worker as a standard cost of doing business, and they certainly should be required to do so in the midst of a pandemic.” - New York Times editorial, March 14, 2020.

New York State is the latest jurisdiction to permanently implement employer-paid sick leave laws in addition to its earlier decision to legislate two weeks of employer-paid sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Yet in Canada, no government federally or provincially has stepped up to protect workers by legislating an adequate number of permanent, paid sick days for all. 

Join the July 18, Day of Action for Paid Sick Days: click here to sign up

As it stands, about half of all workers across the country DO NOT have any paid sick days. 

The majority of people who are denied paid sick days are workers on the frontlines, least able to work from home, with the lowest wages and benefits, and with little job security. 

Black workers are also less likely to have paid sick days, as are newcomers and other racialized workers. Fighting for paid sick days is a matter of racial justice. 

Paid sick days are essential for workers with disabilities as well. And of course those in the caring professions from health care to child- and elder-care are very often racialized, newcomer women whose labour is so essential. 

The evidence is overwhelming that employer paid sick days are not simply another cost to business. In addition to saving lives, paid sick days are an essential investment that saves money for individual businesses and the public purse. How is this possible? Reduced contagion keeps businesses operating and makes communities healthier, while reducing health care costs for everyone. 

That’s why more and more people are speaking out for paid sick days, sign up now to join the action. Across the country, from July 18 to 21, workers are taking action by:

• Talking to their friends, neighbours and co-workers; 
• Visiting their elected provincial representatives; 
• Decorating their workplaces and neighbourhoods to remind everyone that paid sick days are an essential protection. To download and print the beautiful posters, click here: https://www.15andfairness.org/resources 

CERB and the right to refuse unsafe work  

In theory, workers in Ontario have job-protected leave during the pandemic if they have to refuse work because of COVID-19 related issues. 

But without adequate income support, this job-protection means nothing for workers. 

That’s why the Canadian Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) continue to be so essential. Unfortunately, these benefits are set to start running out in August. Without income support, too many of us will have no other choice than to go back into unsafe work putting ourselves and our families at risk. 

That’s another reason it is so urgent that we keep fighting to ensure CERB will be there for as long as workers need it. We know that it will take months - even years - for the economy to come back into full capacity. Many workers will wait months before they can return to their occupation. Others will be returning to jobs with fewer hours or on reduced shifts. We need to ensure CERB continues to play the stabilizing role for workers and for the economy.

For these and other reasons, the Workers’ Action Centre and the Fight for $15 and Fairness are hosting an Emergency Meeting on Monday, July 20 at 2:00 pm, EDT to bring together workers who want to fight to extend this crucial income support. To register, click here. To share on Facebook, click here. 

Join our next organizing meeting

We need to expand our networks and build capacity to fight in every neighbourhood and in every workplace. That’s why along with the Ontario Federation of Labour, we are hosting online organizing meetings every four weeks: Tuesday, July 21 and Tuesday, August 18 at 7:00 pm. We urge you to join us and to bring a friend. To register For Tuesday, July 21, click here. You can join online or dial-in (please sign up to receive log-in details). And to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when the federal government finally announced an extension of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) earlier this week. Millions across Canada were facing a financial disaster on July 4 when the first round of emergency benefits were set to run out.

Thanks to the public outcry, the government has announced that CERB will be extended for an additional eight weeks. But we know that eight weeks will not be enough, given the economic impact of COVID-19 -- you can read our public statement here. That’s why we need to stay mobilized and demand a much more comprehensive plan from our federal and provincial governments to support workers for as long as we need it. 

Register now: June 23, Online Organizing Meeting
You can join the meeting online or by phone (register to receive details)

Join us for this upcoming online organizing meeting we're jointly hosting with the Ontario Federation of Labour on Tuesday, June 23 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Click here now to sign up!

Come meet decent work supporters from across Ontario, and even Canada, to discuss new ways we can put pressure on politicians. From fighting to extend CERB, to making workplaces safer, from winning paid sick days to raising the minimum wage, we need your creative ideas! At the meeting, we'll report on the latest announcements on workplace rights and have lots of time to plan upcoming actions. 

And once you’ve registered (click here to do so now), invite one of your co-conspirators from your workplace, your community, your campus, or your union to join along with you. We have a lot of work to do and need as many hands on deck as possible!. You can spread the word on Facebook here.  

Here are some of the recent developments we'll discuss at the online meeting on Tuesday:

• Extend CERB - Make workplaces safe

Extending CERB is fundamental to protect workers whose jobs have been affected by COVID-19. We know that jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors may take many months and even years before full capacity has been restored. It’s obvious that our demands to extend CERB and improve Employment Insurance are as relevant as ever. Click here to sign the petition. 

Extending CERB is also crucial to ensure that workers have the necessary income supports to leave dangerous workplaces. The reality is, Ontario workers are not being allowed by the Ministry of Labour to refuse unsafe work (see the Global News investigation). With the recent outbreaks on Ontario farms (read the Globe & Mail expose) and at a Home Depot (learn more), it’s clear that employers don't face enough pressure to keep their workers safe. 

• Full immigration status NOW for migrant workers

Thanks to everyone who supported the solidarity caravan to Niagara last Saturday, to echo migrant workers' demand for full immigration status NOW, click here to watch and share the video of the action.  

Without full immigration status, workers who speak out for their safety are under permanent threat of deportation -- this has always been dangerous, but especially deadly during a pandemic. The current health crisis on farms in Ontario -- where hundreds of migrant workers have tested positive for COVID-19 -- has exposed the deplorable working and living conditions of migrant workers. Bonifacio Eugenio Romero, 31, and Rogelio Muñoz Santos, 24, both died earlier this month, and more are in critical condition in the ICU (intensive care unit). 

This neglect of migrant workers is a symptom of the structural racism that pervades every aspect of society, including anti-Black racism.  

• Anti-Black racism is a public health issue

We will never win economic justice, without racial justice. The Decent Work and Health Network has issued a powerful statement outlining the serious health consequences of racism and xenophobia in our workplaces. The Network especially emphasizes anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. Read the full statement here. 

This Saturday, June 20 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, there will be an important online community forum on alternatives to policing and criminalization. Organized by the Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project, this urgent discussion will be live-streamed over Facebook and Instagram and we are encouraging everyone in the decent work movement to tune-in. You can register and spread the word on Facebook here. 

• No time to lose to win 10 paid sick days!

The federal government has promised to move forward on 10 paid sick days for workers. Paid sick days are as essential for safe workplaces as PPE. Without paid sick days, many of us in low wage jobs, working inadequate hours, simply cannot stay home when sick, because we can’t afford to lose even an hour of pay. 

This is another reason why paid sick days must be employer-paid. Workers need seamless access to paid sick days, any interruption to their pay will be a huge disincentive for workers to stay home when they are sick. And let's not forget, the likes of Loblaws, Walmart, Amazon or the for-profit nursing home Chartwell deserve no public subsidies to provide 10 paid sick days for every worker. Let's keep calling federal politicians to deliver on this promise, make your call now! 
www.15andfairness.org/KeepFightingForSickDays 

CERB extension a relief for workers facing financial devastation, say advocates. But, given the economic impact of COVID-19, workers need more than an 8-week reprieve.  

Toronto, June 16, 2020 -- "For millions of workers who were just 3 weeks away from complete financial devastation, today's news brings a sigh of relief," said Deena Ladd, Executive Director of Workers' Action Centre. “But in just a few short weeks, workers will be in the same situation they were this morning - facing down an economic catastrophe.” 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) will be extended by 8-weeks. This $2,000 per month income support for people affected by COVID-19 had an eligibility period of only 16 weeks, meaning at least 2 million people who started receiving CERB in March were set to run out of funds as early as the first week of July.

"Of the 3 million workers who are out of work right now, many are in sectors that are not scheduled to reopen anytime soon,” said Ladd. "These workers are extremely stressed about how they will manage to survive. They deserve to know whether CERB will be there for them for as long as they need it."

"Concert halls will be one of the last places to reopen, and when they finally do it will be months before they operate at the same capacity as pre-pandemic," said Christine Ilott who juggled multiple jobs in the arts sector before COVID-19 hit. "Even the workplaces that have reopened, have done so only partially. Lower capacity means fewer staff. How are we supposed to survive on a few hours of work a week?" 

Workers' Action Centre and Fight for $15 & Fairness Campaign are calling on the federal government to extend CERB by at least another 16 weeks, instead of 8, to give more financial security to workers who are just one rent cheque away from losing their housing. The federal NDP has also been calling for at least a 4-month extension to CERB.

"We are also relieved to see that bill C-17, which would have scared people back to dangerous work, will not be going ahead,” said Pam Frache, coordinator of the Fight for  $15 & Fairness. Tabled last week, this punitive legislation threatened jail time for workers who may have received CERB erroneously, leading to confusion and panic amongst many who became unemployed during the pandemic. 

"Let's be clear, workers want to go back to work. But they want to go back to safe workplaces with decent wages. As it stands, governments are providing neither,” said Frache. 

“The best way to incentivize work is to raise the minimum wage, make pandemic pay permanent, and ensure high standards of health and safety,” said Ladd. “And by health and safety we mean real standards that include social distancing on the job and in staff quarters, employer-paid PPE, paid sick days, and - crucially - the right to refuse unsafe work.”  

-30

For more information or to arrange interviews:
Nil Sendil
Communications Coordinator, Fight for $15 & Fairness
[email protected] l 647-710-5795

As the humanitarian crisis on Ontario farms worsens, a second worker -- Rogelio Muñoz Santos -- has now died from COVID-19.

Because of dangerous housing and working conditions, hundreds of migrant farm workers are testing positive while all-levels of government remain idle.

Emergency caravan to Niagara: June 13

To put a stop to these tragedies that could have been avoided, we are organizing an emergency car caravan to Niagara on Saturday, June 13, to send support and solidarity to migrant farm workers and demand immediate government action to protect everyone’s health and safety. Click here to register now.

You can join the caravan by gathering in Toronto at 9:00 am or along the route in Hamilton, Beamsville, or St. Catharines as follows: 

• 11:00 am - meet in Hamilton at Food Basics parking lot, 2500 Barton Street East
• 11:45 am - meet in Beamsville at Pioneer Plaza, 5005 Ontario Street
• 1:30 pm - meet for a socially-distanced rally outside St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle's office, 61 Geneva Street

Please register now and let us know where you will be joining us, click here or help us spread the word by sharing the action on Facebook click here. 

We encourage all participants to exercise physical distancing, wear masks, and to bring plenty of water, snacks, and hand sanitizer. 

Migrant farm workers are essential, frontline workers who grow the food we eat -- and export. Quite literally, the whole world’s food supply depends on the labour of these workers, who are overwhelmingly from Jamaica and Mexico. Yet for far too long, they have been viewed as temporary, disposable, and expendable.

As the Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change (MWAC) and Justicia for Migrant Workers have been pointing out, federal and provincial government neglect of migrant workers’ safety has led to the COVID-19 outbreaks on Ontario farms. To read the MWAC report, click here. Make no mistake, this is what racism - including anti-Black racism - looks like. And we need your help to put a stop to it.

Demand full immigration status for ALL: June 14 

If you can’t join us on Saturday, please join us on Sunday, June 14 for a pan-Canadian online rally scheduled at 12:00 pm (noon) in support of Migrant workers, sign up now.

Together with the Migrant Rights Network, we are calling for full immigration status for all workers to make sure everyone can exercise all employment rights under the law and crucial public services like health care
Register now: https://migrantrights.ca/june2020/.

Help us amplify these actions over social media by following and using #StatusForAll. And if you’re an educator in the primary, secondary, or post-secondary system, please RSVP and share this event on Facebook here. 

TONIGHT: Know your rights online workshop

From farms to child care centres and from retail outlets to restaurants, health and safety on the job continues to be a concern for all workers. With more Ontario workplaces set to open as early as Friday, it is crucial we know our rights on the job to keep ourselves, our coworkers and families safe. 

Join the online workshop tonight (Thursday, June 11) at 7:00 pm and ask your questions, click here to sign up and receive log-in information. Please help spread the word on Facebook here.

With the Ford government changing layoff regulations to prevent Ontario workers from accessing termination and severance pay (read our media release here), and the Trudeau government introducing Bill C-17 yesterday, which seeks to limit access to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (read our media release here), workers' rights during the pandemic are constantly shifting. Join us tonight at 7:00 pm so we know our rights and can demand better from the governments that are failing to protect us (sign up now).

Let’s keep organizing for decent work! June 23

At our May online organizing meeting, jointly hosted with the Ontario Federation of Labour, over 200 people came together to strategize and plan the next steps in our decent work movement! Let’s make our June 23 online organizing meeting even bigger! Please click here to register right now - then invite your friends and co-workers to do the same. You can also help spread the word on Facebook here. 

Here are a few of the things we will be discussing:

• Links in the food chain: building solidarity among workers
• Health and safety for everyone at work
• Preserving pandemic pay for all of us
• Extending the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)
• Winning paid sick days - Proposal for a July 18 pan-Canadian day of action
• Organizing in our communities

Don’t forget to visit our website 15andFairness.org for resources, upcoming events, and political updates.