See more about the new campaign

This Labour Day we have a lot to be proud of. Thanks to thousands of people across Ontario who have been fighting for decent work and wages, we have won the biggest reforms for workers in 40 years.

Send an email now to Doug Ford and your MPP:
Ask them to join us in standing up to the Big Business Lobby

Equal pay is starting to close the equity and gender wage gap for part-time, temporary, contract and casual employees. Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer paid sick days and personal emergency leave to all workers. We have new union rights that will make it easier for many workers to form unions. And on top of all that, a $15 minimum wage and fairer scheduling rules are coming on January 1, 2019.

But we can’t stop now. Big Business is fully mobilized to roll back our wins and cancel our $15 minimum wage. We can’t let them get away with it (click here to take action now).

As we predicted, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce has now officially called on the Ontario government to repeal Bill 148, the legislation that enacted our paid sick days, equal pay for equal work, union rights, and so much more.  

Right now we need everyone's help to protect our hard-won rights. Take a minute right now to send an email to Doug Ford and your local Member of Parliament (click here). Our new online tool comes with a pre-drafted message you can edit, and it will automatically find your local representative based on your address. It’s urgent we remind the new government they must put our need for decent work, ahead of corporate interests.

Truth is, when it comes to denouncing Bill 148, the Chamber of Commerce has been consistently wrong. They were wrong when they argued that a higher minimum wage would lead to the loss of 185,000 jobs, in fact, Statistics Canada data show Ontario gained that many jobs (source: RankandFile). They were wrong when they said our new labour laws would increase unemployment, when in fact, Ontario’s unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 18 years (source: Globe and Mail). They were wrong when they said employers would all cut back hours, when in fact the sectors that rely on low-wage labour have seen a growth in hours worked, including a 6% increase in the food services and hospitality sectors (source: Toronto Star).

Send an email now to Doug Ford and your MPP:
Ask them to join us in standing up to the Big Business Lobby

Clearly, the facts matter little to rich CEO’s like Galen Weston (Loblaws) or Rocco Rossi, of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. It’s time we tell Big Business lobbyists that Ontarians are done subsidizing their cheap labour practices.

Here’s what you can do:

• Come out to a local Labour Day action! Check out events happening today across Ontario (click here). If you are in Toronto, don't miss this morning's Labour Day Parade (sign up here).
• Find an upcoming action to join, if you can’t come out to Labour Day events click here to join an action in your community.
• Order window sign/s, lawn sign/s or a banner to show your support on campus, at your workplace, or in your neighbourhood (select your swag here).
• Donate to the Fight On! Fund for $15 & Fairness to fuel our organizing (click here to make a contribution). Rich CEOs and corporate lobbyists are a tiny minority. But they have plenty of money to donate to political parties and amplify their message in the media. We have people power, but we need more resources to spread our message and organize a powerful movement that can beat back the Big Business bullies. If every worker benefitting from our new laws made a modest financial contribution each month to the Fight for $15 and Fairness, it would make a huge difference to our ability to organize the 66% majority who want, need and deserve a $15 minimum wage and decent work. Will you make a contribution now? Rest assured, no amount is too small. We will make excellent use of every penny we receive.

A $15 minimum wage is coming on January 1, 2019. But Big Business lobbyists are trying to cancel it. It is our job to let every Member of Provincial Parliament know that Ontarians expect and demand $15 & Fairness. We cannot let a single day pass by without calling on the new government to stand up to the Big Business lobby, protect our $15 minimum wage, and defend our new workplace rights.

Friend, will you help us? A quick action you can take right now will help spread the word:

NEW VIDEO, LET'S WATCH & SHARE: 
Click for Facebook - Click for Twitter - Click for Youtube

Over the summer we saw what the Doug Ford government is capable of, following its damaging rollbacks and cuts. We can't sit back and hope for the best while corporate lobby groups are chomping at the bit to cancel the $15 minimum wage. We need your voice now -- and we need the voices of your friends and neighbours. 

Remember: two-thirds of Ontarians support a $15 minimum wage, including 42% of those who voted for Doug Ford. Join us now to tell the Doug Ford government: Hands off our $15 minimum wage and fairer labour laws!

SHARE THE NEW VIDEO

To deliver this message clearly, please take a moment right now to spread this new video far and wide, then:

• Come out to Labour Day events this weekend! Check out the local events happening on: Saturday, September 1st (click here) -- Sunday, September 2nd (click here) -- Monday, September 3rd (click here). If you are in Toronto, don't miss Monday's Labour Day Parade (sign up here).
• Find an upcoming action to join, if you cannot come out to Labour Day events (view the $15 & Fairness event listing here)
• Order window sign/s, lawn sign/s or a banner to make your support known in your community, campus or workplace (select your swag here)
• Donate to the Fight On! Fund for $15 & Fairness to fuel our organizing (click here to make a contribution)

By Daniel Tencer

The numbers show what many experts have argued: Minimum wage hikes don't derail strong economies.

Many experts predicted that Ontario's hefty minimum wage hike to $14 an hour at the start of this year would harm the province's job creation.

TD Bank issued a study suggesting the move could cost the province some 90,000 jobs. Industry group Restaurants Canada warned the wage hike, along with other labour law reforms, would put 185,000 jobs at risk, including 17,000 in food services.

Some employers seemed to get downright nasty to their workers in the wake of the wage hike. Take, for instance, reports of some Tim Hortons franchisees cutting paid breaks and benefits for workers.

But six months later, there is no sign of the wage hike having negatively impacted job creation in Ontario. The province added some 60,000 jobs in July (though many of those were in the public sector) and its unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data — the lowest rate in 18 years.

"While Ontario's minimum wage increase had the expected effect of lifting Canada's average wage growth this year, the advertised negative impact on employment is less apparent," National Bank of Canada economist Krishen Rangasamy wrote in a client note.

"Employers seem reluctant to part with their now more expensive workers perhaps due to reported labour shortages," Rangasamy added, "although the persistence of strong sales and profits could also explain the resilience of employment."

Indeed, there are labour shortages all across Canada's economy these days.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports there were nearly 400,000 jobs in Canada that had been unfilled for four months or more in the second quarter of this year. Ontario accounts for nearly 155,000 of those vacant jobs.

The 3.1-per-cent job vacancy rate is the highest since the CFIB started tracking these numbers in 2004.

But how have things played out for minimum-wage workers in Ontario?

We looked at two industries that rely particularly heavily on minimum wage workers: Accommodation and food services, and retail and wholesale trade.

In accommodation and food services, Ontario added an impressive 14,000 jobs since the $14-an-hour minimum wage came into force in January, an increase of 2.3 per cent.

That's stronger job growth for that category than across Canada as a whole, which saw a 1.5 per cent increase over that time.

In wholesale and retail, Ontario lost jobs — down 0.8 per cent since the start of the year. But Canada as a whole saw jobs drop by a much steeper 1.8 per cent over that time. In this category, Ontario is still outperforming the Canadian average.

Of course, what we can't know is how job growth in Ontario would have looked had the minimum wage hike not happened; conceivably, it may have been even stronger.

But the data suggests that the minimum wage hike didn't derail Ontario's economic momentum. It reflects what some economists have argued for a long time: Minimum wage hikes have little impact on job growth. Other factors in the economy play a larger role.

In Ontario's case, that may have to do lately with the very strong population growth the province has seen over the past year — up about 1.8 per cent, according to a recent analysis from Bank of Montreal. That is creating a lot of new demand in the economy.

The previous provincial Liberal government had planned to raise the minimum wage again at the beginning of 2019, to $15 an hour.

But the new Progressive Conservative government under Premier Doug Ford has vowed to roll back that hike. The government has vowed instead to eliminate provincial income taxes for minimum wage earners.

Read the HuffPost Story

By Rachelle Younglai

Ontario’s jobless rate hit an 18-year low in July, as the country’s largest economy continued to churn out jobs despite this year’s hefty hike in the minimum wage.

When the province raised the mandatory hourly rate 21 per cent to $14 in January, businesses and their trade groups warned of employment losses. But, six months later, Statistics Canada data show that has not happened.

In fact, Ontario’s labour market is on fire.

The province added 61,000 new jobs in July and the jobless rate fell from 5.9 per cent to 5.4 per cent − the lowest level since 2000, according to the Statscan monthly Labour Force Survey released on Friday. Over all, the country added 54,000 net new jobs in July. The national jobless rate fell from 6 per cent to 5.8 per cent, reverting back to where it has been for most of the year.

Although most of the employment gains this year have been in the public sector and the latest spurt of new jobs were part-time, analysts suggested Ontario’s economy withstood the sharp wage increase. Ontario’s paid employment has increased at the fastest pace since 2010, according to National Bank Financial.

“From a very big picture view, the Ontario job market is holding up relatively well given the shock of a plus 21 per cent increase in minimum wages,” said Douglas Porter, chief economist with Bank of Montreal.

One sector dominated with minimum-wage workers – accommodation and food services – has expanded this year. Although the sector lost 1,900 positions in July, it has added a total of 7,100 since the higher minimum wage went into effect in January.

Other low-paying sectors have also hired more employees in the first half of the year. Transportation and warehousing gained 13,500 jobs and business, building and other support services increased by a similar amount.

“It is tough to find a lot of evidence that employment has been negatively impacted,” said Josh Nye, senior economist with Royal Bank of Canada. “In terms of the minimum-wage hike, it has come at a good time when the economy is able to absorb that. Demand for labour is so strong and labour market conditions are quite tight. Employers don’t have much of a choice,” he said.

On the downside, another sector with low-paying jobs – wholesale and retail trade – has shrunk in Ontario. However, the losses are not unique to Ontario. Across the country, that sector has shed more than 50,000 positions in the first half of the year.

Ontario’s minimum hourly wage was due to climb to $15 next year. But the recently elected Premier, Doug Ford, had campaigned on a promise to keep the mandatory rate at $14 and allow subsequent increases at the rate of inflation.

The minimum-wage hike has helped boost paycheques. In Ontario, the average hourly rate increased 4.3 per cent to $27.16 over July of last year. Across Canada, average hourly earnings rose by 3.2 per cent to $26.61.

“Employers seem reluctant to part with their now more expensive workers perhaps due to reported labour shortages,” National Bank economist Krishen Rangasamy said in a note. “The persistence of strong sales and profits could also explain the resilience of employment,” the note said.

As for fallout from the recent trade war between the United States and Canada, it is difficult to ascertain whether the weakness in factory work is because of uncertainty over free trade in North America, sluggish auto production or the bevy of tariffs the United States and Canada have placed on each other’s goods, including U.S. tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel.

“It may be a little early. But one can’t help but wonder if that is not at play," Mr. Porter said.

Manufacturing shrunk by 18,000 positions last month, although the number of jobs in the sector is up since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, 2017.

Read The Globe and Mail Story

By Greg Quinn, Bloomberg

In spite of some predictions to the contrary, Ontario’s sharp minimum wage increase hasn’t killed its labour market.

Business owners and economists fretted the 21 per cent wage hike, which took effect Jan. 1, would cause a slowdown.

But the latest employment report shows the province’s jobless rate fell to 5.4 per cent in July, the lowest since 2000, and lower than every other province except British Columbia.

Ontario’s payrolls jumped 0.8 per cent last month for the biggest gain since 1989, and employment has been climbing since February.

The minimum wage increase stoked controversy: Advocates said lower-income families would benefit from having more disposable income. Critics predicted they would suffer as businesses cut staff and reduced hours.

Today's Statistics Canada report reveals that Ontario is leading the country in job creation and July's unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4% -- the lowest rate since 2000. Youth employment in Ontario increased, which means more young people are finding jobs. These results fly in the face of Big Business lobby groups -- like the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce -- that made outlandish claims that raising the minimum wage would kill jobs, especially for youth. As we can see, nothing could be further from the truth. And yet, the new Ontario government is still preparing to cancel our $15 minimum wage and roll back our other labour law victories. We can't let this happen. 

The clock is ticking.

Doug Ford is clearly wasting no time in advancing his agenda. Not only has he launched a direct attack on municipal representation in Toronto, he’s taken out his own Conservative rival Patrick Brown by cancelling elections for the four regional chair positions. 

In just a few short weeks, the new Conservative government has legislated striking workers back to work, cut the scheduled increase in social assistance rates, cancelled the basic income pilot project affecting thousands of low-income families, and implemented a hiring freeze that will make it harder to deliver the public services we rely on. This hiring freeze also undermines the government’s ability to enforce our new labour laws and eliminates the 100 additional Employment Standards Officers who would have been hired for that purpose.

Clearly, it is only a matter of time before the new government tables legislation intended to roll back our hard won labour law reforms. But each day without legislation is one more day we have to organize and activate the majority of Ontarians who support a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all.

The fight is not over and we need you more than ever!

Mobilize and organize!

Across Ontario, $15 and Fairness fighters have been collecting signatures on our new petition demanding the government protect -- and extend -- the improvements we’ve won through Bill 148. Already, eight (8) MPPs have read our new petition in the legislative assembly and more have promised to do so in the days ahead.

But we need many more people to be collecting signatures, in workplaces, campuses, and communities in every riding. We should aim to have an MPP reading our petitions into the legislative assembly every single day the legislature sits. We must use every opportunity we have to remind Premier Doug Ford and other government MPPs that WE are the people and we want our $15 minimum wage, fair scheduling laws, equal pay rules (regardless of whether we work full-time, part-time, contract, or temporarily), union rights, and more.

Click here to download our excellent new online tools, from posters & petitions to leaflets & fact sheets. 

To order lawn signs and banners, click here. 

We are the majority!

Never forget: 60% of voters did NOT support Doug Ford and among those who did, post-election surveys show that some 40% also support the $15 minimum wage. Indeed, a recent Angus Reid poll shows that fully two-thirds of all Canadians – 66% – support a $15 minimum wage!

Click here to download our latest sharable. 

But good sentiment is not enough. It is urgent that we find ways of pulling everyone who supports $15 and Fairness into activity, regardless of how they voted. A great example is in Barrie, where former NDP, Liberal and Green candidates joined forces to mobilize at Kempenfest – local festival. Click here to read more. 

There’s no doubt that the majority of Ontarians want decent work for all and we clearly have momentum. The only thing working against us is time. It’s a race against the clock to organize and activate every single person who wants to fight. That’s why your efforts are so crucial. Let’s do our very best to beat the clock. Millions of workers are counting on us to do just that.

Join an action near you or contact us to find out how you too can organize an event in your neighbourhood, campus, or workplace.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, August 10
Northumberland Coalition for Social Justice MPP Picket (Cobourg)
4:00 pm | Constituency Office of David Piccini, Unit 7, 513 Division Street (across from No Frills, north of KFC)
The recently-formed Northumberland Coalition for Social Justice is calling for all Northumberland residents committed to social justice to join the information picket called by the Northumberland Coalition Against Poverty (NCAP) at the time and place set out above. NCAP, together with anti-poverty organizations across the province, is calling for the Ford government to reverse its cut to the planned increase in social assistance rates and for an open and transparent process for future changes. For more information about the Ford cuts or Friday’s picket contact Deborah O'Connor, (905) 372-3646. Text 905-376-3110 or e-mail [email protected] for more information about the Northumberland Coalition for Social Justice.

Saturday, August 11
Fighting Austerity, Building a powerful movement (London)
12:00 noon – 3:00 pm | Unifor Local 27 Hall 606 First Street
Join us to discuss building a movement to challenge the new government's plans to impose austerity. Guest speakers include: John Clarke from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Mike Palacheck from CUPW, Pam Frache from the Fight for $15 & Fairness, and Patti Dalton from the London District Labour Council. See you there! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Sunday, August 12
Ottawa petitioning blitz – Lansdowne Farmers’ Market
12:00 noon – 2:00 pm | 900 Exhibition Way
Ontario workers are expecting a $15 minimum wage on January 1st 2019. We are ready and organized to defend the rights that we won, and push for more! We'll be reaching out to folks at the Lansdowne Farmers’ Market this Sunday! See you there! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Outreach Blitz at Christie Pits (Toronto)
5:45 pm – 7:30 pm | Christie Pits
Ontario workers are expecting a $15 minimum wage on January 1st 2019. We are ready and organized to defend the rights that we won, and push for more! We'll be reaching out to folks at Christie Pits on a lovely sunday evening. Meet us at 5:45pm at the south east corner of the park near Christie and Bloor. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Tuesday, August 14
Toronto-Wide Organizing Meeting
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 202
We are the people that Premier Doug Ford says he represents, so let’s get him prepared to add decent work to the agenda. Join us for this next organizing meeting to find out how we can make this happen and what is next in our campaign. Snacks served at 5:30 pm. Meeting begins at 6:00 pm, finishes at 8:00 pm. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Thursday, August 16
Kingston Summer Social and Fundraiser
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm | Grad Club, 2nd Floor (corner of Barrie and Union) Kingston
Join us for this summer social with guest speaker David Bush (Toronto Fight for $15 and Fairness). We’ll be discussing where the Ford Agenda and the Fight for $15 and Fairness. We’ll be hosting a 50/50 draw to help fund campaign materials. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Saturday, August 18
Britannia Beach Pop-Up Know Your Rights Primer & Petitioning (Ottawa)
11:00 am – 2:00 pm | Britannia Beach
Join us as we spread the word about our new employment rights. Workers can’t enforce what they don’t know they have. A big part of our battle is making sure that workers know their rights so they can work together to enforce them. Join us at Britannia Beach to help us spread the word, collect signatures on our petition and increase the pressure on our elected representatives at Queen’s Park. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. For more information: [email protected]

Outreach Blitz in Mimico
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm | Birds and Beans Coffee
Ontario workers are expecting a $15 minimum wage on January 1st 2019. We are ready and organized to defend the rights that we won, and push for more. We'll be speaking to families and workers in Mimico to collect petitions that we will deliver to MPP's at Queens Park to make our voices heard! We'll meet first at the Birds and Beans cafe at 1pm. (Take the 76 bus from Royal York station). Call Jared at 647-273-5285 to find us if you're coming a bit late or for more information. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Outreach Blitz at Moss Park Festival (Toronto)
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Moss Park Festival
Moss Park festival will feature local entertainment, fun and interactive activities, market place vendors, and a community BBQ - Free Barbeque at 1pm- 2pm. The event is free and open to all! Join the Fight for $15 & Fairness as we do outreach and talk to the festival attendees about the need for a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all. We will collect petitions that we will deliver to MPP's at Queens Park to make our voices heard! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Tuesday, August 21
Ottawa Organizing Meeting
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | 251 Bank Street 
There’s no time to lose! Join us for this Ottawa area organizing meeting. Help us send a message to Queen’s Park: Ottawa supports $15 and Fairness. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Workshop: Door-Knocking and Influencing MPPs (Toronto)
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 202
Let's make sure all Members of Provincial Parliament are decent work champions. This summer, 30 MPPs signed our decent work pledge and many MPPs have already read our petitions into the legislature. But, we need to encourage all of them to do the same this fall. Join us for a workshop on how to influence your MPP to support decent work. We’ll learn everything from how to grab the attention of your MPP to running an effective in-person meeting. Snacks served at 5:30 pm. Meeting begins at 6:00 pm, finishes at 8:00 pm. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Saturday, August 25
Herongate Tenant Coalition Fundraiser (Ottawa)
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm | Happy Goat Coffee Co, 33 Laurel Street
Join the Ottawa area Fight for $15 and Fairness as they support Herongate tenants.

Outreach Blitz in Weston (Toronto)
12:00 noon - 2:00 pm | Northwest corner of Weston Road and Lawrence Ave W by the clocktower.
Ontario workers are expecting a $15 minimum wage on January 1st 2019. We are ready and organized to defend the rights that we won, and push for more. We'll be speaking to families and workers in Weston to collect petitions that we will deliver to MPP's at Queens Park to make our voices heard! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Saturday, August 25 AND Sunday, 26
$15 and Fairness Outreach Blitz at TamilFest (Scarborough)
Choose your shift(s): 2:00 pm-4:00 pm OR 4:00 pm-6:00 pm | Markham Road between McNicholl Avenue and Passmore Avenue, Scarborough
Tamil Fest is the largest Tamil street festival of its kind outside of the Indian subcontinent. This two-day festival is expected to draw thousands of people from across North America and is a unique platform to showcase and exhibit traditional and modern Tamil culture, cuisine, arts and entertainment. Join the Fight for $15 & Fairness as we do outreach and talk to the festival attendees about the need for a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all. We will be having 2 shifts on Saturday, August 25; and 2 shifts on Sunday, August 26. The shifts will be 2-4pm, and 4-6pm for both days. To RSVP for August 25, click here; to RSVP for August 26, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Sunday, August 26
$15 and Fairness at Ottawa Pride
1:30 pm to 3:30 pm | Bank Street
We’re loud and proud and can’t wait to take $15 and Fairness to Ottawa’s Pride Parade with the message that all workers deserve protection! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. For more information: [email protected]

$15 & Fairness outreach blitz in Oakwood (Toronto)
12 pm noon - 2:00 pm | 1471 Eglinton Ave W (Meet at Coffee Time)
Ontario workers are expecting a $15 minimum wage on January 1st 2019. We are ready and organized to defend the rights that we won, and push for more. We'll be speaking to families and workers in Oakwood to collect petitions that we will deliver to MPP's at Queens Park to make our voices heard! P.S Extra exciting news: MPP Jill Andrews will be joining us this round. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Tuesday, August 28
Toronto-Wide Organizing Meeting
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 202
The momentum is with us and we are pulling out all the stops to protect and extend our new labour rights, including equal pay, fair scheduling, union rights, and our $15 minimum wage. Please note there will be a special caucus to discuss strategy and action to enforce the new equal pay protections for workers and faculty on college and university campuses. We are extending a special invitation for students, staff, and faculty to join us. Snacks served at 5:30 pm. Meeting begins at 6:00 pm, finishes at 8:00 pm. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Wednesday, August 29
Ottawa ACORN Herongate Press Conference
Save the date: Details TBA

Monday, September 3rd
LABOUR DAY - Events across Ontario
Check with your local labour council to find a Labour Day event in your community. Click here for a list of labour councils across Ontario. 

Toronto 15 & Fairness at Labour Day 
9:45 am - 12:45 pm | Trinity Bellwoods Park - 790 Queen St W
The Big Business lobby isn't going to stop and we won't stop until every single worker has $15 and real fairness at work. We'll meet at Trinity Bellwoods gates and will be spreading the word about what's at stake in the upcoming months. It's gonna be a morning of freezies and fun! To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Tuesday, September 4th
Workshop: Organizing Creative Actions
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 202
Join us for this workshop on how to organize creative, empowering and fun actions. The more creative and attractive our events, the more likely we'll be to draw new people into our movement. Together we’ll share tips and strategies for building the boldest actions possible. Snacks served at 5:30 pm, workshop begins at 6:00 pm and finishes at 8:00 pm. To RSVP click here and to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Thursday, September 6th
Carleton University (Ottawa) Grad Fair Tabling
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm | Carleton University
Fighting for $15 and Fairness means fighting for equal pay for full-time, part-time and contract workers and faculty on campus. Join us for a petitioning blitz to help students, staff, and faculty enforce equal pay for equal work, and other current and scheduled provisions under the new law, including our $15 minimum wage. To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. For more information, email [email protected].

Tuesday, September 11th
Toronto-wide Organizing Meeting
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 202
There's no time to lose as we step up our fight for $15 and fairness! At this meeting, we'll share the latest news, information, action updates and strategies to mobilize the majority who want a $15 minimum wage and decent work. In addition to our ongoing caucuses, we will be hosting a special trade union caucus for union members. It will be a chance to share tips and learn more about organizing for $15 & Fairness and strengthening your union. You'll go home with all the tools you need to build this campaign with your fellow union members! Snacks served at 5:30 pm, workshop begins at 6:00 pm and finishes at 8:00 pm. To RSVP click here and to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

By Shawn Gibson

Local politicians from three different parties met together at Meridian Square today before heading out to the massive crowds of Kempenfest to get signatures that will tell Ontario Premier Doug Ford they do not want his PC government to roll-back the $15 minimum wage.

The campaign, dubbed Fight For $15 and Fairness, is not just an action to keep the minimum wage the way it is, but also to improve the rules related to paid sick days, decent hours and a respectable workplace, say local politicians.

Keenan Aylwin (Green Party candidate), Dan Janssen (NDP candidate) and Michael Speers (former Liberal staffer) joined forces today to gather as many signatures as they can on a topic they all believe in.

Aylwin has long been an advocate for small businesses and those who make them work and feels that the Conservative government in power right now is doing a lot of talking but not acting in support of those who need it.

“We are going around with a petition in support of a $15 minimum wage but also in support of workers throughout the province who truly are under attack by the current provincial government,” said Aylwin.

“There were some struggles when the wages were increased but businesses are adjusting and I think they could handle a further increase as well, but they do need some support from the government; a government that says they support small business but aren’t doing much to do just that," he added.

The signatures will be collected and delivered to local MPPs Doug Downey and Andrea Khanjin in hopes that they will present the petition to the legislature.

As a member of the NDP and someone who is heavily involved with rights for workers, Janssen believes that many Ontarians feel the same as him: that it is important for everyone to be able to make their rent payments and afford the amenities that go with that.

Janssen doesn’t feel the trio will have a problem in spreading the word about their initiative nor in obtaining signatures.

“We’re going to try to get as many signatures as we can get but we’d be satisfied if we get a 100 or 150 today, which I don't think will be a problem due to the stats we’ve seen like a poll recently released that says 66% of Canadians believe that $15 minimum wage is a good thing,” said Janssen.

“This is really important and as someone who is personally involved with the labour movement, I see the benefit in the $15 and Fairness campaign in that it has become a movement and is gaining province wide support with every action and gathering," Janssen noted. "Today is a show of unity with members of three separate parties joining together not for personal gain, but for workers' gain.”

Speers has worked for the Liberal government, was employed by the Minister of Labour and is now a local advocate. He said that having been involved with the government who delivered the minimum wage increase, he knows how beneficial it is and he hopes that everyone will take a  look at the positive things involved and not get lost in the negative rhetoric by those opposed.

“I worked for the Minister of Labour when we did Bill 148, so I know all the work that went into it and I know all the work that 15 and Fairness has done as far as pushing it,” said Speers.

“With regards to the people of Barrie, there are a lot of progressive voices out there so when you have the three of us working together, it shows that you can put party allegiances aside and get work done in the community. We’ve done the homework and at the end of the day everyone in this province deserves a decent wage and it doesn’t have to be one way or the other. You can pay this increase and treat employees well and give them all the incentives they need to want to work for you; cutting through the garbage being said by those against this is why we’re out today and spreading the truth.”

For more information on the campaign head to the website at www.15andfairness.org

Read the Barrie Today Story

Sweeping changes by new provincial government include ending cap-and-trade, repealing sex-ed curriculum

Around 150 people gathered outside Queen's Park on Saturday to rally against several changes by the new Ontario government.

Chester Madrazo, one of the organizers, said the morning rally was in support of public services and marginalized people.

Premier Doug Ford has vowed to bring sweeping changes to the province, including ending cap-and-trade and repealing the current sex-ed curriculum.

Outside the legislature, demonstrators held "15 and Fairness" signs, condemned changes to the provincial curriculum, expressed worry about the environment and showed concern for potential budget cuts to social programs. 

Indygo Arscott, 16, spoke against the last-minute decision to cancel curriculum-writing sessions aimed at bringing more Indigenous content into Ontario classrooms.

"While I am only a child, my heart lies with the children of the future," said Arscott to the crowd.

Incorporating Indigenous knowledge and history into the K-12 curriculum is crucial step in reconciliation, Arscott said.

"We have a right to view ourselves ... in education systems. We are a multidimensional people, and we deserve to be recognized as more than our trauma."

Arscott, who will be going into Grade 11, fears that recent education decisions will leave young people "fearful and uninformed." 

"You must teach the curriculum you want to reflect the future," Arscott said.

Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare said she's worried the new government will make cuts to childcare.

It took years of consultation and organizing to get the new childcare spaces promised by the previous government, and families are depending on them, Ferns said.

With Premier Doug Ford officially sworn in last week, there's no time to lose in the fight for $15 and fairness. As we have been saying since the election, Ontario’s new government has no mandate to take away our $15 minimum wage.

60% of voters did NOT vote for Ford's plan to cancel the $15 minimum wage, and more than 40% of eligible voters did not vote at all. 

Doug Ford campaigned to be “for” the people. It is our job to remind the premier, his cabinet, and every MPP that we ARE the people and we expect, demand and deserve a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all.

Momentum is with us

Over the past six months, our network of $15 & Fairness supporters has doubled. Every day we are getting phone calls and emails from brand new people who want to get involved. Let's remember, that just 9 days after the provincial election, we succeeded in getting over 2,000 people to march from the Ministry of Labour to Queen's Park (read a recap of the June 16 Decent Work Rally here). 

Clearly, there is an incredible energy in our communities to defend the workplace rights we have won through grassroots organizing, and push for more! With 2 out 3 people in Ontario supporting a $15 minimum wage, imagine what we can accomplish if we continue our organizing on the ground.

Announcing the new petition (and other tools)

To amplify and mobilize our supporters, we have a new petition ready to go (download here). This is a really important tool! Petitions help us demonstrate to politicians just how much of a public support exists for a $15 minimum wage and fair labour laws (so they know to keep their hands off). But also, through the petition, we are able to invite every new person who signs it to come and join our campaign. In fact so many of you reading this email, joined our campaign by signing a petition.

Along with the petition, we also have new posters that can be printed on 11" x 17" paper and used to decorate the province, especially around the offices of Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Let's put as many of these posters up as possible, to send a clear message to the new government: WE are the people, and WE expect and demand paid sick days, equal pay for equal work, fair scheduling, union rights, and so much more!

Click here to access these and other new (11x17) posters 

Let's get organized!

In the weeks ahead, it is crucial that we keep the heat on Members of Provincial Parliament. It is not an option to wait until the provincial legislature convenes, we must act now.

• Spread the word: Our rights at work are at stake but not everyone is aware of this. Help spread the word by talking to your friends, co-workers and family members. Better yet, use the petition as a conversation tool and ask them to sign if they agree with you.

Download the new $15 & Fairness petition (legal size paper)

• Organize a local petitioning action: Grab a friend and head to a busy intersection in your neighbourhood to talk to other residents and ask them to sign the $15 & Fairness petition. After you are done, either mail the petition to the campaign office or drop them off at your local MPP's office (make sure to photocopy them first though, and cut off the personal contact details before you deliver them).
  .
• Ask your Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) to be a decent work champion: 30 MPPs have already signed our pledge to be a decent work champion. Let's encourage others to do the same. Share this link with your local representative to invite them to sign on.
  
  
• Order a lawn or a window sign: The election may be over, but $15 & Fairness lawn signs stay in the ground! Help us greet newly elected MPPs by decorating our neighbourhoods with window and lawn signs. You can order these signs as well as banners here. If you are a member of a community organization, health centre, union local or place of worship, please ask whether they would like to take and display a banner too!

Join us at an upcoming event:

More events are being confirmed. If you are organizing an event in your community please send us the details by filling out this handy form so we can promote it.

Tuesday, July 10th

Toronto Organizing Meeting
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave, suite 223 | Click here for the map.
We are the people that premier-designate Doug Ford says he represents, so let’s get him prepared to add decent work to the agenda. Join us for this next organizing meeting to find out how we can make this happen and what is next in our campaign.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Saturday, July 14th

$15 & Fairness Contingent at People’s Rally
10:30 AM - 11:30 PM | North west corner of University & College | Click here for the map.
A big rally is going to be held at Queen’s Park in support of public services and the needs of Ontario communities. We are organizing a $15 & Fairness contingent with colorful banners and placards to participate and represent the issues of decent work. Join us, we will meet at 10:30 and the rally will start at 11:00. 
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Sunday, July 15th

Discussion: Transformative Labour Organizing in Precarious Times
1:00 PM - 6:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave, suite 223 | Click here for the map.
Join the Research Committee on Labour Movements (RC44labour.org) and the Workers’ Action Centre for a series of public discussions about transformative organizing efforts taking place in Canada, South Africa, South Korea and the United States. Let's rethink strategies for building movement power from the ground up. This is a FREE event, but space is limited so please RSVP.
To RSVP and learn more about the speakers, click here. 

Tuesday, July 17th

Toronto Phonebank 
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave, suite 223 | Click here for the map.
Help us call the hundreds of $15 & Fairness supporters who have joined the campaign in recent weeks. We will thank them, provide an update and ask them to get involved by joining a future action. We will have sample scripts to support you, so come out and don’t be shy! Please let us know you will be there by RSVP’ing so we can make sure to get enough snacks!
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Wednesday, July 18th

Discussion: Transformative Labour Organizing in Precarious Times
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave, suite 223 | Click here for the map.
Join the Research Committee on Labour Movements (RC44labour.org) and the Workers’ Action Centre for a series of public discussions about transformative organizing efforts taking place in Canada, South Africa, South Korea and the United States. Let's rethink strategies for building movement power from the ground up. This is a FREE event, but space is limited so please RSVP.
To RSVP and learn more about the speakers, click here. 

Sunday, July 22nd

BRAMPTON
Brampton Organizing Meeting
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Brampton Soccer Centre | Click here for the map.
Thank you to everyone from Brampton who came out to the Rally for Decent Work! We are ready and organized to show premier-elect Doug Ford that WE are the people who he represents. Join us for this next organizing meeting to find out how we can make this happen and what is next in our campaign.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

By Sarah Mojtehedzadeh

The Ontario government’s hiring freeze has paused plans to double the Ministry of Labour’s complement of enforcement officers charged with investigating wage theft and other workplace abuses.

Legislation passed last November under premier Kathleen Wynne included a promise to hire 175 new employment standards officers in order to inspect one in 10 Ontario workplaces and resolve workplace complaints within 90 days. The pledge came after both worker advocates and some business groups argued the ministry’s enforcement efforts should be improved.

Around 75 of the new officers have already been hired, but the remaining job postings appear to be on hold amid the government-wide hiring freeze the incoming Doug Ford administration ordered last week. Ford’s Progressive Conservatives take power on Friday.

“Until the new government can put in place an expenditure management strategy, the Ontario Public Service is implementing additional expenditure restrictions which includes a freeze on new external hiring, with the exception of essential frontline services,” said Janet Deline, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour.

Currently, the processing time for employment standards claims — which involve issues like unpaid wages, overtime pay, or failure to pay minimum wage — is five months, Deline said.

The ministry did not answer questions from the Star about whether it is meeting its stated goal of inspecting one in 10 workplaces because it is “currently in caretaker mode and cannot comment on future government commitments.”

In 2017/2018, Deline said the ministry conducted 3,507 proactive employment standards inspections. There are 999,766 workplaces in Ontario according to Statistics Canada, although proactive inspections are focused on non-union employers.

TOP STORIES. IN YOUR INBOX: For the day’s top news from the Star’s award-winning journalists, sign up for our daily headlines newsletter.

Independent academic research commissioned for a two-year review of the province’s employment laws found that victims of wage theft across Ontario lost out on $28 million from 2011 to 2015 because the Ministry of Labour failed to collect the pay owed to them.

Last year, the government’s rate of recovery when individual workers filed claims for unpaid entitlements was around one-third, according to data obtained by the Star through a Freedom of Information request.

Proactive inspections, which are initiated at the behest of the ministry rather than workers coming forward to complain, often at the expense of their jobs, have proven to be far more effective in recovering stolen wages. The recovery rate for these investigations, which Bill 148 was meant to expand by hiring more enforcement officers, was almost 100 per cent.

What an energy-packed Decent Work Rally we had last Saturday when nearly 2,000 people joined us on the streets of Toronto! Supporters like yourself travelled all the way from Ottawa, Hamilton, Brampton and so many other cities to come out to the biggest public demonstration since the Ontario election. Keeping in time to the tempo of Brazillian drums and beatbox rhythms we chanted in unison: “Hands off our $15 minimum wage,” “Hands off our paid sick days,” “Hands off equal pay for equal work.”

Check out more photos from the rally

When Doug Ford was running to be the leader of the Conservative Party, he campaigned on cancelling the $15 minimum wage, and implementing a tax cut instead. Economists have exposed that a tax cut would only save minimum wage earners $800 while an increase to $15 would put nearly $2,000 in the pockets of workers. A $15 minimum wage is clearly a better deal for workers and communities across the province are eagerly expecting for $15 to come into effect on January 1, 2019.

With over two-thirds of people in Ontario continuing to support a $15 minimum wage, we know that premier-designate Doug Ford has NO mandate to reverse our decent work laws. The diversity of the crowd that gathered at the Decent Work Rally last weekend was proof! Doctors, faith leaders, teachers, students, union activists and many workers all came together to say WE are the majority. 

Watch the CTV coverage of the rally

Let's also remember that 60% of voters did NOT vote for Doug Ford or his plan to scrap the $15 minimum wage at the election. And more than 40% of eligible voters did not vote at all. As for the people who voted for Doug Ford, we know many did so on this basis of his promise to be "for the people". As Yvette, a worker from Toronto, explained at the rally:

“If Doug Ford is truly for the people as he claims, he and his government will honour the commitments already made to the people of this province. In fact they will go beyond, because that is what our communities need.”

All of this makes the next few weeks critical! Let's make sure every Member of the Provincial Parliament feels the pressure to implement the labour law reforms we've won (including the right to equal pay for equal work, fair scheduling rules, paid sick days) and advocate for more. At the rally we acknowledged the 29 elected officials (28 from NDP and 1 from Green Party) who have already signed the $15 & Fairness pledge to be decent work champions (click here to see the full list). It is not too late for other MPPs to also sign on, please take a moment right now to reach out to your local representative.

Join us at a meeting near you! Let's use the summer to talk to our neighbours about why our rights are at stake, and collect signatures to show newly elected MPPs that their constituents expect them to deliver on decent work. Together, we can ensure $15 & Fairness for ALL! 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

More events are being confirmed. If you are organizing an event in your community please send us the details by filling out this handy form so we can promote it.

Sunday, June 24th

TORONTO
March in Toronto Pride on Sunday
1:45 PM - 5:00 PM | Meet outside Sherbourne Subway Station | Click here for the map.
Put on your most colorful, outrageous costumes and get ready for the fun! Fight for $15 & Fairness will be joining the Toronto Pride parade to demand fairness and protection for ALL workers. Come join us and don't forget to bring along water, a hat and sunscreen. We'll meet by the Sherbourne subway station entrance at 1:45 PM.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Monday, June 25th

KINGSTON
Kingston Organizing Meeting
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM | Robert Sutherland Hall, Queen's University Campus | Click here for the map.
Any agenda to rollback our rights has to be resisted and defeated, and we aren't wasting any time. Our group is going to be defending our decent work gains, supporting workers against Bully Bosses, and standing with other communities who are fighting back in Kingston. Come out to our organizing meeting to be part of the fight for decent work and fairness in Ontario.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Tuesday, June 26th

SCARBOROUGH
Scarborough Organizing Meeting
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | ACCES Employment Centre | Click here for the map.
Join us to plan our next steps for the Fight for $15 in Scarborough! With the provincial election and the decent work rally over, we need to stay organized and plan what we can do to ensure workers rights are protected and expanded in the next 4 years.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Thursday, June 28th

HAMILTON
Hamilton Organizing Meeting
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM | CUPE Local 5167 office, 818 King St E | Click here for the map.
Coming off the momentum of the Decent Work Rally, Hamilton Fight for $15 will be hosting an open meeting to discuss strategy, organizing against austerity, and how we can ensure strong labour laws, fair wages and continue fighting for decent work. Everyone is welcome! For more information, email: [email protected]
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Wednesday, July 4th 

OTTAWA
Ottawa Organizing Meeting 
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM | 25OneCommunity | Click here for the map.
We are going to be promoting decent work all over Ottawa this summer and supporting workers that are fighting bully bosses, like Second Cup. Planned actions include pop-up workers rights clinics, a sign blitz, leafleting at festivals, and more! Come to our organizing meeting to share ideas and be a part of the action. For more information, email us: [email protected]
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Tuesday, July 10th

TORONTO
Toronto Organizing Meeting
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave | Click here for the map.
We are the people that premier-designate Doug Ford says he represents, so let’s get him prepared to add decent work to the agenda. Join us for this next organizing meeting to find out how we can make this happen and what is next in our campaign.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

Sunday, July 22nd

BRAMPTON
Brampton Organizing Meeting
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Brampton Soccer Centre | Click here for the map.
Thank you to everyone from Brampton who came out to the Rally for Decent Work! We are ready and organized to show premier-elect Doug Ford that WE are the people who he represents. Join us for this next organizing meeting to find out how we can make this happen and what is next in our campaign.
To RSVP, click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here. 

The mood was upbeat at Saturday's minimum wage rally scored by activists as a "vital first blow in the struggle against the Ford government,” but there’s no sugarcoating what a PC majority means for the cause of social justice in Ontario

By Peter Biesterfeld

One anti-poverty group scored last Saturday’s Fight For $15 And Fairness rally as “a vital first blow in the struggle against the Ford government.” 

And an impressive showing it was in front of the Ministry of Labour building on University, led by the sounds of Brazilian percussion group Baque de Bamba. They came to march to Queen’s Park – and to tell premier-designate Doug Ford and his government-in-waiting to lay off the Liberals’ Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148), which is set raise the minimum wage to $15 in January 2019.

By the time the crowd is ready to head to Queen’s Park, about 2,000 people have gathered under a merciless midday sun. The gathering is sweltering but energized by the turnout, with signs and banners representing union groups and frontline support organizations from as far away as Niagara and Ottawa. From the back of a flatbed a beat boxer and a rap artist lead the demonstrators up University in a syncopated chant: “Minimum wage / under attack / What do we do? / Act up, fight back.”

Near the Queen Victoria statue in front of the Legislature, newly elected NDP MPPs are invited on to a small stage by Black Lives Matter–Toronto co-founder Sandy Hudson, one of the keynote speakers at the event. Other guest speakers include Naomi Klein, a driving force behind the movement to build a coalition of labour, environment and social justice organizations, and Ontario Federation of Labour president Chris Buckley. The mood is upbeat but there’s no sugarcoating what a majority Ford government means for the cause of social justice in Ontario.

“We did get a bunch of activists elected,” Hudson tells the crowd, “but we can’t just rely on those elected. We have to rely on each other.” Noting the union presence in the crowd, Hudson called on leadership in the province's labour movement to “take all the resources that we have… and start training for a fight. If it takes storming that building over the next four years, we have to be willing to do that.” 

Ford has proposed replacing the minimum wage with a $850 tax credit for low-income earners, which those who’ve crunched the numbers agree will mean less money in the pockets of working people. On that issue, Ford’s media manager Jeff Silverstein, replying in an e-mail to NOW, offers up familiar talking points used by Ford on the campaign trail. 

“A Doug Ford Ontario PC government understands that the people of Ontario are in need and will implement policies to make life more affordable, putting more money back into taxpayers’ pockets,” Silverstein writes. “As part of that plan, we’re going to make Ontario’s tax system fairer for low-income households by introducing a minimum-wage tax credit. This will save them up to $850 while protecting their job security.”

Silverstein adds that, “full-time minimum wage workers will also save on their hydro bills, gasoline at the pump and natural gas to heat their home or apartment.”

Asked whether Ford’s proposed tax credit would replace minimum wage Bill 148, Ford’s office did not respond. 

Pam Frache, coordinator of Fight For $15 And Fairness – the group that first launched the campaign to raise the minimum wage in 2013 when it was frozen at $10.25 – says the current fight is about more than minimum wage. It’s about the need for fair scheduling and equal pay for equal work, regardless of whether you work full-time, part-time or for a temporary agency. 

But Ford is only one character on the austerity stage. Rally emcee Deena Ladd, co-founder of the Workers Action Centre, one of the organizers of the event, says “it’s corporations that hide behind those lobby groups that have been actively fighting us every step of the way.” Among them, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, which claims the move will lead to a 50 per cent increase in inflation, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has described a $15 minimum wage as a “job killer.” “They are the ones that will be leading this charge,” says Ladd.

Sarah Jama, a community organizer from Hamilton and co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, warns what activists will be up against by reminding the crowd of Mark Wafer, the Tim Horton’s franchisee who made headlines when he argued against Bill 148 in front of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. He said that it would make economic sense to lay off disabled workers first should $15 minimum wage go through. Wafer had told the committee that, “In my business, jobs that don’t necessarily have to be done on a regular basis... those jobs would be the easiest ones to cut first.” 

The Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce also argued against a $15 minimum wage, suggesting that the Ontario government already had “a great many tools and programs to relieve poverty, and could simply utilize and perhaps expand upon those.”  

Klein, the last speaker up, acknowledges that the election was a blow, and that people will get hurt in Ford’s Ontario no matter how fierce the resistance. 

She paraphrases American historian Howard Zinn, saying that “the really critical thing isn’t who’s sitting in office, but who is sitting in – in the streets, in the cafeterias, in the halls of government, in the factories. Who is protesting, who is occupying offices and demonstrating – those are the things that determine history.” 

Klein says that solidarity in the austerity battles to come will arise from building more durable relationships between struggles, before floating the idea of “conscientious objection” to Ford’s proposed tax cuts. She suggests “giving people easy-to-use tools to refuse their tax cuts and direct that money to grassroots mutual support networks instead. We need to start peer-to-peer, people-to-people wealth redistribution if our government won’t do it.”

She adds, “We need to never stop reminding Doug Ford that he has no mandate for economic austerity, no mandate to cut our public services because he never published a platform.” 

Enthusiastic applause goes up. 

Read the Now Toronto Story

By Nathasha McDonald-Dupuis

La Fédération du travail de l'Ontario, des groupes anti-pauvreté et Black Lives Matter manifestent samedi devant les bureaux du ministère du Travail pour dénoncer le refus de Doug Ford d'augmenter le salaire minimum de 14 $ à 15 $ l'an prochain, comme prévu sous le gouvernement libéral.

Il s'agit de la première manifestation du genre depuis que le chef conservateur a remporté une majorité écrasante aux élections du 7 juin dernier.

La première ministre sortante, Kathleen Wynne, avait promis d'augmenter le salaire minimum à 15 $ l'heure le 1er janvier 2019.

L'ancien chef progressiste-conservateur Patrick Brown avait proposé un compromis, celui d'augmenter le salaire minimum de 25 cents par année, pour atteindre 15 $ l'heure en 2022.

Cette promesse s'est envolée avec l'ascension au pouvoir de Doug Ford. Le salaire minimum se maintiendra désormais à 14 $ l'heure. En contrepartie, le premier ministre désigné promet que ces travailleurs ne paieront pas d'impôt sur le revenu ce qui leur permettrait d'économiser 850 $ par an.

Une mesure que rejettent toutefois les principaux intéressés, parce que s'ils touchaient 15 $ l'heure, ils gagneraient 1500 $ de plus par an.
La différence est énorme pour Yvette Leclair, une agente d'un centre d'appel qui gagne le salaire minimum et qui participe à la manifestation.

Doug Ford vous dites que vous êtes pour le peuple, et bien nous sommes le peuple, dit-elle.

La Fédération du travail de l'Ontario, qui représente une douzaine de syndicats, s'inquiète de cette décision et estime en effet qu'un crédit d'impôt n'aura pas le même impact qu'une hausse de salaire.

Anne Ouellette, une militante syndicale, membre des Travailleurs unis de l'alimentation et du commerce, qui participe elle aussi à la manifestation renchérit : 15 piasses en Ontario ce n'est pas de trop. C'est même nécessaire. Les loyers sont chers, le coût de la vie est très cher. Donc une réduction, ou annuler le 15$ va nuire beaucoup.

Read the ICI Story

Premier-designate Doug Ford's plan to scrap the implementation of the $15 minimum wage has some workers in the province concerned.

Watch the CTV News Story

A rally supporting $15 minimum wage occurred in Toronto on Saturday. Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford has said he will cap the minimum hourly wage at $14.

TORONTO, June 16, 2018 -- Just nine days after the Ontario election, thousands flooded the streets outside the Ministry of Labour and marched to Queen’s Park today in support of the $15 minimum wage and fairer labour laws. People came in from Niagara to Ottawa, Brampton to Oshawa, and joined the rally carrying signs that read “WE are the people” “Hands off our $15 minimum wage,” “Hands off our paid sick days,” “Hands off equal pay for equal work.” Some of Ontario’s new labour laws are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2019.

“The people of Ontario expect a $15 minimum wage on January 1, 2019 and you can see from the crowd that I am not alone,” said Yvette LeClair, a Toronto worker. “Like so many people I know, I’ve been juggling two and three jobs, with no benefits for too long. The $14 minimum wage, the right to equal pay for equal work and the paid sick days that came into effect this year are making a big difference, but I am – and millions like me are – anxiously waiting for the increase to $15 and fairer scheduling rules.”

After years of organizing by grassroots organizers and the labour movement, workers in Ontario won important labour law reforms in 2018 with the passage of Bill 148: Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act. The Fight for $15 & Fairness Campaign and the Ontario Federation of Labour held the joint rally today to send a message to the incoming government that the majority of Ontarians want and support decent work.

“During the election campaign, we heard on the doorsteps of working people that $15 is critical,” said Pam Frache, the provincial coordinator for Fight for $15 & Fairness. “So if Doug Ford is truly for the people as he claims, if he wants to stand up to the elites, he has to implement the changes our communities fought so hard for. Don’t believe the Big Business lobby. A $15 minimum wage will transfer over $5 billion in corporate profit to workers’ pockets. That’s good for workers, for our communities and for Ontario’s economy because what small businesses need most are customers.”

Co-founder of Canada’s Leap Manifesto Naomi Klein echoed Frache’s statement. “Margaret Thatcher once said: 'The lady is not for turning.' What Doug Ford is seeing today is that in Toronto, the workers are not for turning. Movements are not going to give up on the gains they have won without a fierce fight. If Ford tries to ram his austerity agenda through anyway, his base will see once and for all that he never was on their side.”

While running to be the leader of Progressive Conservative party, premier-designate Doug Ford had campaigned on cancelling the $15 minimum wage and implementing a tax cut instead. But advocates and economists alike have said this will leave workers worse off.

“Ontario’s labour movement wants to be sure one thing is clear to everyone: a $15 minimum wage is a better deal for workers than a tax cut,” said Ontario Federation of Labour President Chris Buckley. “Many minimum wage earners will not make enough money to qualify for Doug Ford's $800 tax cut. But a $15 minimum wage will put almost $2,000 more in workers’ pockets if they work full time. Our government should be lifting people out of poverty by raising the minimum wage, not taking away the pay increase they need to feed their families.”

Leaders from the business community were also at the rally, endorsing a decent work agenda for Ontario. “I am here today to represent the more than 60% of smaller business owners who support a $15 minimum wage. We know that most small businesses already pay more than minimum wage. In fact, it is the large, profitable corporations who rely most on minimum wage labour,” said Anita Agrawal, CEO, of Best Bargains Jewellery (a company listed among Canada’s top 100 women-owned businesses). “It is time to level the playing field for small business by insisting that all workers be paid at least $15 an hour,” she said. “If Doug Ford is concerned about supporting smaller businesses, then he should do something about the massive commercial rent increases that are putting more and more of us out of business.”

-30

The Ontario Federation of Labour represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.ofl.ca.

The Fight for $15 and Fairness is a growing movement of workers committed to fighting for decent work, and includes students, faculty, labour groups, health providers, anti-poverty activists and faith leaders. To learn more, visit: www.15andFairness.org.

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

Meagan Perry, 
Director of Communications 
Ontario Federation of Labour
[email protected] l 416-894-3456

On Saturday, thousands will gather at the Decent Work Rally in Toronto to deliver a special message to Doug Ford: WE are the people. Will you join us?

During the Ontario election, Doug Ford campaigned on being For the People. Well, WE are the people. We are the contract workers, the cleaners, the caregivers, the servers, the part-timers, the temp agency workers and the minimum wage earners whose labour this province depends on. And WE the people, demand $15 & Fairness!

Let us know you'll be there on Saturday!
Meet at 1:00 PM outside the Ministry of Labour
at 400 University Avenue (South of St Patrick Subway Station)

The rally we are organizing together with the Ontario Federation of Labour is the first big public demonstration to take place since the election. Please make every effort to attend and help us tell the new government: Hands off $15 minimum wage! Hands off paid sick days, equal pay for equal work and fairer labour laws. To deliver this message, we are going to be joined by an incredible line-up of speakers whom you will not want to miss!

• Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and co-author of Canada’s Leap Manifesto
• Chris Buckley, president, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Sandy Hudson, co-founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto
• Dr. Ritika Goel, member, Decent Work and Health Network & OHIP for All
• Gobinder Singh Randhawa, chair, Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council
• Anita Agrawal, CEO, Best Bargains Jewellery (one of Canada’s top 100 women-owned businesses) and member, Better Way Alliance
• Sarah Jama, co-founder, Disability Justice Network of Ontario

Share the video now: Click here for Facebook - Click here for Twitter

Now, we heard from some of you during the past few days that you are unable to attend because you are working, have family commitments, or the trek to Toronto is simply not feasible. That is no problem, here is how you can take action to make $15 & Fairness a reality for ALL of us no matter where you are or when you are available:

• Share the invitation with friends in Toronto who may be able to attend. Forward this email to them right now.
  
  
• Amplify our message in social media -- Follow the $15 & Fairness Facebook page by clicking here. On Twitter, we are using the hashtag #15andFairness. Re-tweet messages of support or post why you continue to fight for #15andFairness.
  .
• Join an upcoming event near you (check 15andfairness.org/events for future updates). We want to make the most of the summer to collect signatures and talk to our neighbours so that we can deliver $15 & Fairness petitions to the newly elected members of parliament before Queens Park opens for business in September.
   
• Make a donation, no matter how big or small, if you are in a position to make a financial contribution (click here). The corporate lobby groups are emboldened by the possibility of the Doug Ford government cancelling $15 minimum wage, help us take them on by donating to our Fight On! Fund now.

TORONTO, June 13, 2018 – Thousands of Ontarians are expected to gather for the Decent Work Rally on June 16 to let the incoming government know about the widespread support for a $15 minimum wage and strong labour laws. Co-organized by the Fight for $15 & Fairness campaign and the Ontario Federation of Labour, the rally is the first public demonstration to take place since the June 7 provincial election.

After years of grassroots organizing, workers in Ontario won important labour law reforms in 2018 with the passage of Bill 148: Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act. On Saturday, speakers such as Naomi Klein will outline Ontarians’ big expectations from the newly elected government to continue delivering on a decent work agenda, including the implementation of a $15 minimum wage and fair scheduling rules on January 1, 2019.

WHEN: Saturday, June 16, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

WHERE: 1:00 pm outside the Ministry of Labour (400 University Avenue, Toronto) followed by a march to Queen’s Park

SPEAKERS:

• Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and co-author of Canada’s Leap Manifesto
• Chris Buckley, president, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Sandy Hudson, co-founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto
• Dr. Ritika Goel, member, Decent Work and Health Network & OHIP for All
• Gobinder Singh Randhawa, chair, Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council
• Anita Agrawal, CEO, Best Bargains Jewellery (one of Canada’s top 100 women-owned businesses) and member, Better Way Alliance
• Sarah Jama, co-founder, Disability Justice Network of Ontario

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Visuals will include colourful handmade banners and signs, costumes, dance performances and live music.

The Ontario Federation of Labour represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca 

The Fight for $15 and Fairness is a growing movement of workers committed to fighting for decent work, and includes students, faculty, labour groups, health providers, anti-poverty activists and faith leaders. To learn more, visit: www.15andFairness.org

-30-

To arrange interviews prior to or at the rally, and for more information, please contact:

Nil Sendil
Communications Coordinator
Fight for $15 & Fairness
[email protected] l 647-710-5795

Doug Ford may have a majority of seats at Queen's Park, but he doesn't represent the majority of Ontarians. Despite a higher voter turnout (58%), more than 40% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot in yesterday's provincial election. And of those who did, 60% did NOT vote for Doug Ford and his plan to scrap the $15 minimum wage.

In fact, most voters chose candidates who support a $15 minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, better protection for workers on the job, stronger regulations for temp agencies, fairer scheduling rules, easier access to union membership, and more.

We are still the majority. But we need to organize this majority as quickly as we can, and that starts on June 16, with the Rally for Decent Work. 

In Toronto, we are rallying at the Ministry of Labour (400 University Avenue) and then marching to Queen's Park. Please RSVP right now and make plans to bring others. You can also RSVP on Facebook here. If you can put on a bus from outside the GTA, send us details via this online form, and please consider making space available to others in your community. 

Let's pull out all the stops to show Doug Ford that we will not allow our new labour laws to be rolled back and we will keep fighting for more. If you are unable to get to Toronto, consider organizing an action in your community or join us on social media #15andFairness. 

• To download the June 16 rally poster (letter size, 8.5" x 11") click here.
• To download the June 16 rally poster (tabloid size, 11" x 17") click here.
• To download the June 16 leaflets (half letter size) click here.

You can also use the text below to send an invite to your networks:

JUNE 16: RALLY FOR DECENT WORK 

Doug Ford may have a majority of seats at Queen's Park, but he doesn't represent the majority of Ontarians. Despite a higher voter turnout (58%), more than 40% of eligible voters did not vote. And of those who did, 60% did not vote for Doug Ford and his plan to scrap the $15 minimum wage. On June 16, let's show Doug Ford that we will not allow our new labour laws to be rolled back and that we will keeping fighting to improve on what we've won.

Join the Rally for Decent Work on June 16, sign up now.

Special guests include: 

• Naomi Klein, Author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and co-author of Canada’s Leap Manifesto
• Chris Buckley, President, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Sandy Hudson, Co-founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto
• Dr. Ritika Goel, Member, Decent Work & Health Network and OHIP for All
• Gobinder Singh Randhawa, Chair, Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council
• and more!

Check out this 90-second video to hear why we are getting ready to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Labour on Saturday, June 16th at 1:00 PM. 

Watch and share the video on Facebook or watch on YouTube here.

For more information visit 15andFairness.org or OFL.ca 

For a list of actions and events across Ontario, click here.

This election really matters. 

Doug Ford said he will cancel the upcoming $15 minimum wage if he becomes premier. We can't let that happen. Polls suggest the Ontario NDP is running neck and neck with Doug Ford's Conservatives.

To win, Doug Ford and his business lobbyist friends hope that those of us who need and deserve decent work won't vote.

Let's prove them wrong. 

Vote as soon as you can today for candidates who've signed our Decent Work Pledge (see the list by clicking here). Then help make sure your friends, co-workers and neighbours get to the polls too. Click here to find out where to vote. 

Polls are open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. Your employer must grant up to three (3) hours off work without penalty if your work schedule does not allow you three consecutive hours to vote while polls are open. Learn more about your rights as a voter here.

JUNE 16: RALLY FOR DECENT WORK 

No matter who forms government, we will have to face down Big Business interests if we are to protect and extend our gains.

Join the Rally for Decent Work on June 16, sign up now.

Special guests include: 

• Naomi Klein, Author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and co-author of Canada’s Leap Manifesto
• Chris Buckley, President, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Sandy Hudson, Co-founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto
• Dr. Ritika Goel, Member, Decent Work & Health Network and OHIP for All
• Gobinder Singh Randhawa, Chair, Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council
• and more!

Click here to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook for the Toronto Rally, or here to RSVP on our website. In the meantime, check out this 90-second video to hear why we are getting ready to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Labour on Saturday, June 16th at 1:00 PM. 

Watch and share the video on Facebook or watch on YouTube here.

For more information visit 15andFairness.org or OFL.ca 
For a list of actions and events across Ontario, click here.

Thank you for voting -- and for making $15 and Fairness a key issue in this election! 

By Nick Saul

With budget top of mind for Ontario voters, it’s time to talk about who’s winning and who’s losing in our economy. The evidence couldn’t be clearer: the divide between the rich and poor continues to widen. And many of us who are doing well simply have no clue how poor our neighbours are.

Or maybe the problem isn’t that we don’t know, it’s that we think living in poverty is a lifestyle choice. We blame people who are poor for shoddy budgeting or getting themselves into bad situations.

At Community Food Centres Canada, we know this couldn’t be further from the truth. Every day, we see people like Nicole, who emigrated here as a young single mom and worked as a housekeeper, a telemarketer, and a caregiver but, with rent and child care, still couldn’t make ends meet.

While charities like Community Food Centres provide programs and supports that help people like Nicole, the real solutions for poverty and food insecurity lie in the hands of government.

That’s why we need to pay close attention to the parties’ policy ideas and ask ourselves if their positions on issues like housing, social assistance, child care and wages will help everyone — or further undermine the health and well-being of low-income Ontarians.

Which is why we’re so concerned about the Progressive Conservative resolution to cancel the minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, replacing it with a tax cut for low-income workers. This will leave the nearly 9 per cent of Ontarians making minimum wage even farther outside the fold, and could cut yearly incomes by up to $712.

That’s bad news for the 595,000 Ontario households that can’t afford to put food on the table. Despite the exhausted adage that people living in poverty need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, nearly 60 per cent of those households rely on wages as their primary source of income.

It’s a problem for us all because the costs associated with poverty are downloaded onto our overburdened health care system, our economy, and, by association, onto Ontario taxpayers. Research shows that food insecurity significantly increases health care costs, and that income inequality slows growth. We’re doing our economy no favours by leaving our neighbours in the dust.

For many of us, a yearly earnings reduction of $712 may not sound like a big deal. But the difference between a $15 minimum wage and a $14 minimum wage (even with a tax cut) is about equal to three months’ worth of nutritious food — no laughing matter for those who often go without.

So let’s make sure that, in addition to the economy, equality takes a starring role in this upcoming election.

When politicians in this critical election come knocking on your door, I hope you’ll tell them that, regardless of political stripe, we need them talking about ideas and policies that bring us together rather than pull us apart. We are all better off when we stand together.

Nick Saul is president and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada.

Read the Toronto Star Story

'Once our politicians get elected, they don't come and talk to the men and women on the street'

Residents of Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood crowded into a gymnasium on Tuesday night to find out what four provincial election candidates will do about their concerns.

Held at the Driftwood Community Centre, the meeting was organized by the Jane Finch Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Task Force and it was an opportunity for residents and community groups to highlight key issues in the community.

Residents pressed candidates on what they would do to address their issues.

Progressive Conservative candidate Cyma Musarat, New Democrat Tom Rakocevic, Liberal candidate Deanna Sgro and Trillium Party candidate Lucy Guerrero were there.

Here are five issues residents highlighted:

Public housing.
Education.
Mental health.
Minimum wage and workers' rights.
Public transit.

Winston LaRose, a member of the Jane Finch Concerned Citizens Organization, or "Mr. Jane and Finch," as he says he is known, said the Jane and Finch community is often overlooked by politicians.

'These are the forgotten people'
"These are the forgotten people," he said. "Once our politicians get elected, they don't come and talk to the men and women on the street, or I'd say in the housing, because that's where they're located."

For LaRose, the state and recent closures of Toronto Community Housing buildings were top of mind.

"We must talk about people living on Shoreham Court, living on Driftwood Court, those in Grand Ravine, those in places like Firgrove, which most of the politicians don't want to go to."

Community housing was also on the mind of local tenant representative Amanda Coombs, who said access to fresh food was one of her key concerns.

"Inside of the food banks, a lot of the foods they receive are canned goods and full of preservatives," she said.

Politicians often out of touch, say some
When it comes to everyday issues, she said, most politicians are out of touch. Coombs is one resident who remains undecided about which party will receive her support.

"I just really hope that whoever is elected is really somebody who sees from the inside out and not from the outside in."

High school teacher Dennis Keshinro said improvements to education are especially important to the riding, which is diverse. Keshinro said he wants to see the next government do a better job of focusing on the needs of students of immigrant backgrounds who may be pushed from grade to grade without being properly equipped for the curriculum.

"When we have 10 students going to school and we only have five and three graduating, that's a huge problem," he said.

Keshinro said he's watching the candidates carefully, but isn't disclosing which one has won him over.

Education was also a concern for community advocate Suzanne Narain of Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty.

"Many of the families in this neighbourhood are immigrant families and education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, but we see that there are increasing class sizes, less support for special ed," she said.

With just over a week to go until election day, Narain said she knows which party will be getting her vote, but she's concerned about what she calls "professional politicians" telling the community what's best for them without having real experience living in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood.

"One of the problems that we see in many elections is that we see people say that they're for the people or that they want to advocate for the people but they are actually of the elite… they make it see like they care about the livelihood and dignity of poor people when they are not."

Ultimately, LaRose said he hopes this election will galvanize those in the community who lack representation in government to exercise their right to vote.

"You get out there and cast your vote," he said. "Make sure your voices are heard and well-represented."

Read the CBC Story

By Naureen Rizvi

Workers in Ontario have fought long and hard for the $15-an-hour minimum wage, and there is no good reason to delay the increase. With data coming in since the January 2018 increase, it’s clear that improving standards for all workers helps our province.

Shortly after the government tabled Bill 148, Ontarians began to see a steady stream of ominous headlines about the negative consequences of a $15 minimum wage. Some critics warned that the size and speed of the increase would almost certainly lead to large-scale job losses and runaway inflation.

Every vote matters in this election. The volatility in the polling numbers tells us that voters are listening, learning, and evaluating. Nothing is a done deal. Every conversation we have, every leaflet and poster we hand out, every door or window sign on display -- is making a difference. We need to mobilize the vote among younger voters, workers in minimum wage jobs, newcomer communities, women, and more. 

That's why we're excited to let you know that we have wonderful new materials ready to go, to remind workers they can change the course of history with this election if we vote for candidates who support a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all!

NEW MATERIALS!

The new materials are now available on the Resources page of the 15andFairness.org website.

• To view and download the large size Your Vote Counts poster, click here. (A letter size version is also on the website.)
• To view and download the large size June 16 Rally for Decent Work poster, click here. (A letter size version is also on the website.)
• For the leaflet combo (Your Vote Counts on one side, June 16 Rally on the other), click here.

ASK YOUR CANDIDATE TO TAKE THE PLEDGE

We need more Decent Work Champions! Please invite your local candidates to sign the pledge. Click here and share the URL. 

SHARE THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO

Don't forget to share this important video produced by RankandFile.ca that helps explain why a $15 minimum wage is a better deal than Doug Ford's tax cut.

Watch on Facebook (click here) -- Watch on Youtube (click here) 

VOTE IN THE ADVANCE POLLS

By voting early, we can concentrate on mobilizing support for $15 and Fairness right up to the last minute. To learn how to vote in advance polls, visit Elections Ontario here.

ORDER A DOOR OR LAWN SIGN

Our signs will live on long after the June 7 election, so don't hesitate to order your window or lawn sign. If you have more space, consider ordering a banner to show the world we are proud to support a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all! To place your order, click here. We won't give up until every worker earns at least $15 and has fairness in the workplace. 

HELP US DO SOME PHONE-BANKING

If you can assemble a team of 3 or 4 people, we can help you organize a phone banking blitz to connect with $15 and Fairness supporters near you. Once you have your team, email us at [email protected] to let us know you're ready to go. 

Several phone-banks are already being hosted, to see them and join one, click here. 

MOMENTUM GROWS FOR JUNE 16 DECENT WORK RALLY

More than ever we need to stay mobilized after the June 7 election to show any new government that Ontario expects and demands decent work. We have an incredible line-up of speakers already confirmed for the June 16 Rally for Decent Work (sign up to attend here)!

• Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and co-author of Canada’s Leap Manifesto
• Chris Buckley, president, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Sandy Hudson, co-founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto
• Dr. Ritika Goel, member, Decent Work and Health Network & OHIP for All
• Gobinder Singh Randhawa, chair, Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council

We also know there are several buses already in the works to bring in folks from outside and inside Toronto - sign up for the rally to receive updates on the buses. If you can't travel to Toronto, organize a local action. As a reminder, please send us any deets of local actions through this form: click here. 

CALLING ALL CONTRACT COLLEGE FACULTY

To RSVP and invite your colleagues and co-workers, click here.

JOIN AN UPCOMING EVENT

A full list of events are now on our website (click here) and Facebook page (click here). Please RSVP on our website if you are interested in coming to an event and spread the word!

MAXIMIZE TWITTER 

Be sure to use #15andFairness in your tweets, alongside #ONElxn #ONPoli or other relevant hashtags. Help us spread the word by retweeting the best of #15andFairness. 

HELP US FINANCIALLY

The demand for materials - signs, posters, leaflets - is fantastic! But we need way more resources to help pay for it all. Please consider making a donation by clicking here. No amount is too small and of course, no amount is too large. We need every penny we receive.

By Sara Mojtehedzadeh

Job creation is an evergreen campaign promise, but as for your rights on the job — well, they don’t tend to be a wedge issue.

That’s what Navi Aujla hopes to change this time around.

What a month we’ve had!

Our friends at RankandFile.ca have produced a 75-second video that explains why a $15 minimum wage is a better deal than a tax cut. WATCH & SHARE it right now:

Watch on Facebook (click here) -- Watch on Youtube (click here) 

Our friends at The Leap have also played a big role in amplifying our message through email blasts, Facebook live interviews with Avi Lewis, and Twitter. Click here to watch Avi’s interview with Navneet Aujla at the Brampton Town Hall for $15 & Fairness (click here to see a few photos from the event).

No One is Illegal has also produced a powerful video that shows what’s at stake in the Ontario election. You can watch it and share it on Facebook by clicking here.

Join an action near you!

To see the full list of upcoming events and actions, click here. If you're organizing an event, please fill in this form (click here) and we'll post it on our website and on Facebook. Don't forget -- we have lots of downloadable leaflets, sign-up sheets, and placards/posters available on our resource page (click here). We also have a variety of non-English materials as well. And let's keep pushing out the lawn and window signs to make our support visible, available for order online (click here). 

Every vote matters

Since the Ontario election officially began, we have seen Doug Ford’s poll numbers falter and support for the Ontario NDP grow. Meanwhile, polls suggest that support for the Ontario Liberals is holding constant. This tells us there is no room for complacency. In this election, every vote will matter.

We need to redouble our efforts to reach younger workers, newcomer communities and all those in low-wage, precarious employment. These folks are more likely to be left off voters lists, less likely to be aware of what’s at stake in this election, and, consequently, less likely to feel that voting makes a difference in their lives. We need to persuade them not only to vote, but to be ready to demonstrate in support of decent work after the election on June 16 (click to RSVP now!).

When politicians come knocking on your doors and at all-candidates-debates, don't forget to ask candidates how they'll ensure $15 & Fairness. Click here for some sample questions.

Not on the Voters List? Not a problem

Help us spread the word: if someone is not on the voters list, they can still vote. They just need to show a piece of identification that has their name and residential address on it. That could be a driver’s license, statement of government benefits, band council identification, a utility or cell phone bill, or even a school tuition fee statement. For more information, including other acceptable ID, visit Elections Ontario by clicking here.

Advance Polls: May 26 to May 30

Advance polling isn’t just for folks who will be away on June 7. We can all vote early so that we can concentrate on fighting for $15 and fairness right up to the last moment. To find an advance poll near you, click here and enter your postal code. 

Candidates' Pledge: Who will support our Agenda for Decent Work?

You asked for it, you got it. We now have an online pledge form for individual candidates to sign, indicating their support for our decent work agenda. Ask your local candidates to take the Decent Work Pledge (click here to share this URL).  

June 16 – Rally for Decent work: Book a bus, organize a contingent or local action

Regardless of the electoral outcome, we need to stay mobilized after the June 7 vote. No matter which party forms the next government, they will need to see widespread support for labour law reform. Let us know you'll be there by clicking here. Help spread the word on Facebook by clicking here. 

Every cent matters

All our organizing efforts cost money and we are sorely in need of additional financial resources to make sure Ontario elects candidates who support $15 and Fairness. If you can make a donation -- big or small -- we will put it to excellent use. Click here to make a donation right now.

Thank you, {{ recipient.first_name_or_friend }}, for making decent work a crucial issue in Ontario!

By Melissa Keith

Fighting for $15 and Fairness is second nature for Canada's many service-industry employees, who know the impossible struggle of urban life on minimum wage. Individually, they have battled for pay increases, job security, medical insurance, paid sick days, and the other ingredients that make a job a "good job." But when each worker fights this fight alone, any personal gains can come at the expense of co-workers, or at a high cost to the individual.

I've experienced and endured restaurant and retail workplaces where survival meant competitive hostility among employees, as each strove for the best shifts, most hours, that elusive raise, promotion to management, or other perks. Dynamics like those don't spawn a pleasant workplace climate. Informal and unfair choices by owners and managers motivated the decisions that impacted our lives. I was let go at one restaurant after three years, because another server wanted my job to go to her friend. The server was dating the restaurant owner's son at the time.

Can minimum-wage jobs ever incorporate enough fairness for workers to be freed from clashing over crumbs? When the Ontario Legislature passed Bill 148 (the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017) last November 22, the stage was set for finding out. Under this act, minimum-wage workers received a boost to their paycheques, to $14 per hour effective January 1, 2018, to be followed by an increase to $15, scheduled to take effect January 1, 2019. 

In addition, paid and unpaid "personal days" off work became a legal reality in a sector where taking time off is often accompanied by the implied threat of losing one's job. Other changes introduced with the legislation sound suspiciously like examples of basic compassion and common sense:

* a minimum of three weeks' vacation after five years with the same employer
* up to 10 individual days of leave and up to 15 weeks of leave, without the fear of losing one's job when a worker or their child has experienced or is threatened with domestic or sexual violence
* expanded personal emergency leave in all workplaces 
* (unpaid) job-protected leave to take care of a critically ill family member.

Knowing one's work schedule in advance is another feature of a fair workplace. Starting January 1, 2019, Bill 148 gives employees the right to refuse a shift they have been assigned with less than 96 hours' notice, eliminating a stressor for the many workers with limited transportation options and multiple roles (for example, those working at more than one job; those who are also students, caregivers and/or parents). These and other changes within the progressive bill are resonating with minimum-wage workers and others who want an equitable employment landscape. 

BILL 148 AN INCOMPLETE VICTORY
For Nadira Begum, the passage of Bill 148 is a victory, but an incomplete one. "I have two part-time jobs right now, in the non-profit sector, with no benefits. But now, I can access personal emergency leave; because now, temporary, part-time, casual worker — it doesn't matter," she tells Our Times. "Most of the [Bill 148] changes, I can get access to."

The organizer in Toronto's diverse Regent Park neighbourhood is an advocacy worker focused on "decent work for racialized women." Begum arrived in Canada 12 years ago and found herself unable to land work that made use of her social-work background from Bangladesh. She couldn't afford the time to upgrade her qualifications.

"I had two children, so it was impossible for me to go to university. By this time, I had kind of like part-time work. Before, I had three to 10 jobs at the same time. All of my experience is non-profit sector; I didn't work groceries or other places." Instead, she became a volunteer in Regent Park, and got involved in the Fight for $15 and Fairness in 2016. She is now a leader for the campaign in her community.

Begum says her situation is all too common: Educated immigrants apply for jobs commensurate with their qualifications, but find their credentials unacceptable to employers in Canada. "Lots of people in Regent Park, they face the same conditions. They don't have any choice — they have to do two or three part-time jobs, because their education is not equal here."

For people struggling to support themselves and their families under such conditions, Bill 148 represents a lifeline — Begum says after the first minimum-wage increase came into effect, one woman proudly informed her that she could finally pay her hydro bill. 

UNDERPAID WORKERS ARE TREADING WATER
The spiralling cost of living in urban centres means underpaid workers are treading water. There can be no savings, no security when rent alone consumes most of one's income and food banks are a necessary part of life. 

News outlets catering to business and corporate interests have chosen to frame systemic injustice as personal inadequacy, notes Pam Frache. The coordinator of the Ontario Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign and Workers' Action Centre organizer is cautiously optimistic about Bill 148's chances of being fully implemented next year. She views the March 10th election of Doug Ford as Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader as a potential threat to full enactment, but no insurmountable barrier for the campaign and its supporters. 

What happens when a win for workers is followed by a narrow and controversial win for a politician promising to undo the workers' victory? 

"We were concerned, obviously, about the direction of the Progressive Conservative Party in general, just because they already said they were going to prolong the implementation of the $15 minimum wage," says Frache. "In the mid-1990s, the Conservatives not only reversed progressive labour-law changes that had been implemented by the Ontario NDP government [under Bob Rae], they actually rolled back employment standards. They gutted social assistance, [making] literally lethal social-assistance cuts, so we know from their past practices that we need to be concerned."

Those practices have not changed, according to Frache: "We know that the Progressive Conservatives actually voted against Bill 148, which is the bill that brought in the changes that are on the table now."

Former Toronto municipal councillor Doug Ford, much like his late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, represents the current trend of populism in politics.

TAKING DOUG FORD SERIOUSLY
"We were considerably concerned about the Conservatives in general, but I think what's interesting about Doug Ford is that he's quite brazen in their agenda," says Frache. "The worrisome thing is [that] some people are not going to take his candidacy seriously. There are people who are thinking, 'That's great: He's a controversial figure, so we don't have to worry about what he represents!'

"Some people are responding with insults and derision. We've all seen this movie before — we saw this movie with Rob Ford in Toronto, we saw this movie with Donald Trump, and I think that what we have to do is really unpack the populism in Doug Ford's message and address it. There's a kernel of truth in every single thing that he says."

Disenfranchised workers struggling to put food on the table have turned to outspoken candidates like Ford and Trump out of frustration, Frache notes. "If we just simply dismiss what he's saying, we're going to lose our audience, because there's a goodly section of the population who feel that life is not getting better; life is either a grind or getting worse.

"We have politicians who don't speak clearly, don't mean what they say and say what they mean, and I think they see in Doug Ford someone who means what he says and says what he means."

POPULIST APPROACH DISGUISES ANTI-WORKING-CLASS SLANT
The populist approach disguises the anti-working-class slant of the right-wing agenda, cautions Frache. As corporate interests feed stories to traditionally conservative business-media outlets, those who benefit from maintaining an impoverished pool of readily available, marginalized workers are presented as benevolent employers. Similarly, politicians supporting this agenda are painted as down-to-earth, plain-spoken opponents of an elitist, out-of-touch left.

"[Ontario voters] may not agree with everything Doug Ford says, but I think they like his clarity and his boldness," says the organizer. "I think that the job of progressives is to really take his base seriously and have real conversations with them."

This means the kind of direct and unpretentious outreach being carried out by Frache and Begum, as well as by Navneet (Navi) Aujla, a workers' advocate in Brampton, Ontario. The York University sociology graduate speaks from firsthand knowledge of the insidious spread of "temp agencies" and how they impact workers.

She observes that racialized workers with few options for paid employment find themselves forced into the free-for-all world of the agencies, which have flourished thanks to ongoing racism, sexism and other forms of workplace exclusion.

"Some of these temp agencies aren't even in a building — they're [accessible only] through a phone call and then if they don't pay your wages, you can't find them," cautions Aujla. Twice, she was paid less than minimum wage by such agencies, which open — and close — randomly, as is convenient for their operators.

While doing research for her master's degree at York, Aujla learned that temp agencies exploited immigrants to Ontario as far back as the late 1800s; as early as 1914, the province brought in regulations to prevent them from taking advantage of workers. Early temp agencies staffed factories with industrial workers. In a 2009 article published in Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, David Van Arsdale and Michael Mandarino note a second rise in employment agencies just after the Second World War beginning with Winnipeg-based "Office Overload" in 1951. Within the decade, the company had expanded to Toronto, Hamilton, Vancouver and Montreal, placing women who had filled unconventional labour-market gaps in factories during the war years back into stereotypical clerical gigs.

Aujla says it was her own experience with temp agencies that originally motivated her to join the Fight for $15 and Fairness. "I had worked through a bunch of them before, when I was still studying. I ended up also researching temp agencies when I was doing my master's at York, so I really got to see how problematic they are. Also speaking to members of my community, especially South Asian immigrant women, to see the kind of horrible conditions they had to work through and how powerless you are in that position."

She encountered a panel discussing the campaign for $15 and Fairness on campus, and appreciated that temp-agency work was part of the conversation. "That's how I got involved. There's also a $15 and Fairness campus group at York, and when I finished there, a couple of us started organizing for the campaign in Brampton."

Advocates of better conditions for marginalized workers may argue that workers should reject exploitative jobs, employers and temp agencies, on principle. The Brampton resident argues that few who accept this work have any choice.

TEMP AGENCIES ARE STOPGAP MEASURES
"When I first started doing it, I was a student and I needed work during the holidays. I couldn't find it anywhere else, so I had to go through the temp agencies."

It was after this experience and during her bachelor's degree that Aujla delved into studying temp agencies. She discovered they have become increasingly common within the past five to 10 years. Recent immigrants living in her community told Aujla that, like her, they turned to the agencies for "general labour" positions in the warehouses and factories prevalent in Brampton. 

Temp agencies are, true to their name, a stopgap measure when it comes to employment. Aujla describes getting two days' work, then nothing else for the next week, when she was temping as a general labourer. "Maybe you go in for one day, and then they send you home after three hours," she says. "Not knowing how much work you're going to be getting, or how many hours, or even when the work will be, because the calls come one day before."

IF YOU SAY NO, THEY STOP CALLING YOU
Transportation can be a very real barrier on such erratic schedules, as can arranging child care, yet endless flexibility is demanded of on-call temps. "If you say 'no' to going in more than once or twice, then they're just going to stop calling you back," warns the organizer, who admits she has even cancelled a medical appointment in order to accept a one-day job. "Then there was another time they texted me at 6:35 a.m. and said, 'We don't need you to come in.'"

Before Bill 148, the most vulnerable members of the provincial workforce had few protections against dehumanizing expectations in their precarious jobs, particularly as temp workers.

"There is no control over your schedule and you're at the whim and mercy of when they are going to call, always waiting by your phone," says Aujla. Direct communication with the actual employer is impossible; workers are routed back to the temp agencies, which take a substantial cut of what the company pays to use (as opposed to hire) the worker.

Aujla no longer takes temp gigs, and admits to having an element of rare safety and educational privilege even when she did: "I was living at home, so I didn't even have as much of a need; I can't even imagine what it's like for folks who are depending on this kind of work for survival. You can't plan anything else, in case they do call you."

Bill 148 is a welcome step toward transparency. "There's so much secrecy! Everywhere I worked, you got minimum wage or less, because the temp agency was taking a cut," notes Aujla. "They don't disclose that, so you don't even know how much it is." She says workers could be making wildly different hourly wages, but talking about pay within such a divided (temp/non-temp) workplace is taboo.

Hence, the "equal pay for equal work" provisions the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign has embraced and that came into effect on April 1st: "The law says that basically anyone who is working part time or through a temp agency or seasonal — if you're doing the same work as somebody who's full time, you should be paid the same. You can't be discriminated against based on your employment status, because the work is the same."

The need to increase protections for marginalized workers has seldom been stronger, contrary to the view coming from business advertorials and right-wing lobbyists. "Even when you speak to the older generation, like my parents, or people who have been here for maybe 10 to 15 years, when they first came, you didn't have to go through a temp agency to get work — you could go to a factory and get hired directly," explains the Brampton organizer. "Now, it's like no one is hiring directly. Even if they have jobs [available], they will send you through a temp agency."

Aujla says even community agencies are funnelling job applicants through temp agencies, as opposed to doing their own hiring. It's created a haven for the Greater Toronto Area's 1,700 temp agencies (more than the number operating in seven provinces combined, she notes) and a ghetto for many job-seekers. 

Bill 148 has tackled several of the abuses that led to the rise of precarious work in the province. On November 27th, an "employee misclassification" clause came into immediate effect: "Employers cannot misclassify employees as independent contractors. This addresses cases where employers treat employees as if they are self-employed and not entitled to employment-standards protections. If there is a dispute the employer will have to prove that an individual is not an employee."

Aujla states that the Fight for $15 and Fairness movement continues to push for greater rights. "If the companies are held liable for safety and injuries, that would also be a huge success. What we're still pushing for now is, workers should be hired directly after three months [temping]; there should be a limit on how many workers can be brought in through a temp agency at a company — we're saying 20 per cent; and there should be no barriers to workers getting hired directly."

COMPLACENCY IS NOT AN OPTION
Complacency is not an option, agrees Frache. She says the public must look for hidden agendas when they read business news on Bill 148 and the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign. One example: a seemingly surprising supporter of a Guaranteed Annual Income for Ontarians is actually backing the idea as a means to suppress workers' rights.

"The Ontario Chamber of Commerce, which has been a vocal opponent of the campaign for $15 and Fairness, they have this coalition of businesses — mostly corporate lobby outfits — which is all about suggesting that if you do anything decent for workers, then we're going to have massive unemployment," she explains. "They oppose raising the minimum wage to $15, but they very much support a Guaranteed Annual Income.

"The reason is because of corporations that have a sub-poverty wage model. This would let those corporations off the hook, because if the state provides the wages, then they don't have to."

Unions, and supporters like the Ontario Federation of Labour, are a fundamental part of the ongoing Ontario Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign. Frache says that a 2017 strike by Aramark employees at York University demonstrated the collective power of organized labour and activists. "It was an absolute breakthrough!" she says with approval. "The way they won, by framing their demands as part of the Fight for $15 and Fairness. Normally, these workers would be separate, taking on Aramark alone."

Instead, all unions represented on the campus were joined by students, "uniting the whole campus," with the York Federation of Students providing free "Solidarity Coffee."

Malka Paracha was a part of the activism behind that victory. The North York resident works as an Aramark food-service supervisor at York University. "I'm very proud to say that I'm not only a shop steward with Unite Here Local 75, but also known as a strong leader at my workplace," she says via email. "I got that position in September 2014." She became involved in the $15 and Fairness campaign while planning for the 2017 strike period, encouraged by members of the campaign, whom she reports "showed a strong support and solidarity with us to achieve our due demands as a contract."

The York Aramark workers' contract had expired in September 2016. Paracha notes that in the wording of a new contract, she and co-workers requested a wage of $15 per hour "to enhance the living standards of those who were living below the poverty line by earning the then minimum-per-hour rate." When the company management held back on approving this hourly wage increase, the unionized York Aramark staff voted in unanimous favour of a strike.

It wasn't simply the pay increase that Paracha was looking for — she wanted real fairness enacted in the workplace. "I suffered a lot because of my hijab and religious practice in my early years of work," she recalls. "I was literally told by the management at work that I'm not presentable, so I'm not eligible for a higher position, even though I had enough experience, proper job skills and knowledge."

She says she was also expected to socialize with men on the job in ways she considers incompatible with her faith: "My second disqualification for promotion was my other religious concerns, like not being able to shake hands with male officials, keeping myself simple and reserved in mixed gatherings, and so on."

The shop steward happily shares that the strike accomplished its goals — and then some. "We signed a robust contract with the company, under which we not only achieved the minimum-per-hour rate of $15 but also got 100 per cent benefits for full-time and part-time workers. And we are the one who set the standards for the rest of the workers in precarious jobs, for the companies and unions, that the minimum raise of $15 is achievable."

Paracha, who lobbied continuously for Bill 148, says she feels "very positive" about it: "I hope for an effective implementation of the bill after elections" are held across the province on June 7.

A Fight for $15 and Fairness provincial strategy meeting held on March 23 and 24 is just one example of how the campaign is keeping the momentum going. Pam Frache says after the passage of Bill 148, part of the ongoing battle is maintaining presence and influence without the same level of financial support that backs the American Fight for $15 and Fairness campaigns.

Populist voices loudly calling for the market to "self-regulate" are ill-informed, and pose a real threat to recent gains. (A truly self-regulating market in need of workers would necessarily improve wages and conditions to attract those workers, she explains: It's the self-interest of CEOs that actually interferes with that kind of self-regulating labour market.)

"We need to be very, very careful that we don't let the business community offload its obligation to provide decent work onto the public purse, which is less and less sustained by corporate taxes and more and more sustained by ordinary workers," she argues.

"If you look at what's happening in the United States, there is widespread documentation on the fact that food-stamp social programs are subsidizing the poverty-level wages of profitable corporations like Walmart and McDonald's and so forth. We don't want to let corporations off the hook."

Aujla agrees that regardless of what happens in the June provincial election, the fight will go on. She wants to "let every party know that we're not going to back down."

The frontline outreach of the Workers' Action Centre and its support of minimum-wage employees will continue, as will the centre's political activism: "No matter who is elected, [elected officials] have to stand for these issues that we're pushing. We're strong, we're getting the word out there, and we're building our movement, so that no matter what happens in the election, we're strong enough to stand up to any political party and what they might try to do."

Read the Our Times Story

Last year, our friend Avi Lewis debated Doug Ford on CTV’s Question Period. In that debate, Doug Ford made it perfectly clear that he would rather stand with Loblaws CEO Galen Weston, who has engaged in price-fixing schemes, evaded taxes and threatened to lay off workers, than pay a $15 minimum wage. Doug Ford pretends to be “for the little guy” but we know that his promise to freeze the minimum wage will hurt workers now and in the long term. Help us spread the word:

Share this video now: Click for Facebook -- Click for Twitter -- Click for Youtube

We need YOU to call in TODAY between 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm

We have just learned that Deena Ladd, coordinator of the Workers’ Action Centre, will be on CBC’s Ontario Today between 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm to discuss Ontario’s minimum wage. Tune in to CBC Radio One, 91.5 FM.  

Please call in to support a $15 minimum wage and annual indexation to inflation. Call 1-888-817-8995.

Tips for getting through:

• Start dialling in 5 or 10 minutes before 12:00 noon.
• Keep re-dialling until you get through.
• If you get through, be clear, calm and thoughtful and try to share lived experience.

You can also tweet @CBCOntarioToday or email: [email protected]

Faith communities speak out for decent work

Over 200 faith leaders from across Ontario have publicly spoken out in support of our demands. Leaders of diverse religions have been interviewed by the media, made presentations to the government, led marches and talked to their congregants about the urgent need for decent work. Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition recently released an election kit that sees employment justice as a deciding election issue, check it out!

Show your support for $15 & Fairness!

Make your support for a $15 minimum wage and decent work for all visible. Order a sign here and come out to an outreach action in your community (click here for a full list). If you have an event coming up that’s not on our list, send us the details here.

June 16 Rally for Decent Work

Join the rally for decent work in Toronto on Saturday, June 16 at 1:00 pm outside the Ministry of Labour. Sign up here. See if a union, organization or community group in your town can sponsor a bus to Toronto or organize an action locally.

The writ dropped on Wednesday marking the official beginning of 2018 Ontario Election and there’s a lot at stake for workers. More than ever, we need every person who supports decent work to speak up and speak out.

Here’s what you can do:

• Ask your local candidates where they stand on the issues. Click here to download some sample questions. 
• Put up a lawn or window sign. Click here to order signs or download and print yourself by clicking here.
• Let your friends know about the issues. Click here to download this brochure that explains what we’ve won – and what we have to lose. (You can also order quantities of 50 or more by sending us an email).
• Join us on the streets (click here to see upcoming events or scroll down). 

Ontario’s $14 minimum wage brings good economic news (contrary to Big Business BS)

The Labour Force Survey for March 2018 shows a continued trend of low unemployment and increasing wages for workers. In Ontario, compared with 12 months earlier, employment in the province GREW by 130,000 (+1.8%), mostly in full-time work (+118,000 or +2.0%). (Source: StatsCan)

Wages across the country for workers not occupying managerial role have been increasing at a steady rate. Workers in the bottom 20 percent and even the bottom 40 percent of wage earners have seen their wages rise faster than any other segment of the labour force. This can be attributed to the increased minimum wage in Ontario and Alberta. 

Big Business steps up its campaign against our decent work agenda

When Doug Ford promised to scrap the $15 minimum wage – currently scheduled to take effect January 1, 2019 – the corporate lobby group Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) cheered. “Let’s see what the real and full impact of this fourteen dollar wage increase is before anyone makes any future moves to a higher number,” Julie Kwiecinski, CFIB Director of Provincial Affairs. (Source: CTV Barrie)

But we already do know that raising wages helps workers and the economy. In fact, the bulk of historical evidence (source: Globe and Mail) and the most recent economic data from Ontario confirms this. Unfortunately, the Big Business lobbyists refuse to accept the facts and continue to spread BS predicting economic catastrophe should the law force corporations to share their huge profits with workers. (Source, RankandFile)   

Only one party opposes the $15 minimum wage

One of Doug Ford’s first and few promises is to scrap the $15 minimum wage before it takes effect in January 2019. (Source: CTV Toronto)

Because the Conservatives have not published a platform, it is difficult to say with precision what else the party stands for. We should remember that Ford’s father (Doug Ford, Sr.) was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Etobicoke-Humber during the Mike Harris regime (1995–2002). One of the first things that government did was roll back progressive labour laws implemented by the previous government. The Harris government also rolled back employment standards, attacked unions, slashed social spending, eliminated rent control and imposed cuts to social assistance rates.

Knowing that a clear majority of Ontarians support the $15 minimum wage, Doug Ford is promising tax cuts for all minimum wage earners. But even this is still a bad deal for workers. Here’s why:

• Two-thirds of Ontarians who make less than $30,000 annually already pay no tax thanks to existing tax credits and deductions. That’s over 3 million people. Under Ford’s plan, those earning minimum wage would forgo their wage increase while receiving no additional tax relief. These workers will lose the most under Ford’s plan. (Source: CCPA Ontario) 
  
  
• Full-time minimum wage earners who do pay tax would still be better off with a $15 minimum wage than with the tax cut. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a full-time minimum wage earner would get a tax refund of $817 but would LOSE $1,899 in after-tax income. (Source: CCPA Ontario)
  
  
• When wages stay low, then all other income support programs based on earnings also stay low. A minimum wage freeze means workers will receive less CPP (pension income), Employment Insurance income, termination pay and anything else based on our weekly wages. (Sources: CPP, Employment Insurance, Termination and Severance)

Vote for candidates who will protect and extend our workplace rights!

It’s up to us to spread the word about what’s at stake in the June 7 Ontario Election.

A government that claims to be open for Big Business will be less likely to defend equal pay, fairer scheduling (coming into effect in 2019), paid sick days and easier access to unions. Unlike corporations, we don’t have money to spend on expensive public relations campaigns. Nor do we own big media companies to spread our message.

But we are the majority. Poll after poll shows that over two-thirds of Ontarians support at least $15 an hour for all workers. We can activate our personal networks to spread the word, get informed and get engaged so that whatever happens on June 7, we are ready to protect our wins and fight for more.

JUNE 16 - SAVE THE DATE

The Ontario Federation of Labour has agreed to partner with the Fight for $15 and Fairness to promote a Rally for Decent Work on June 16 at 1:00 pm outside the Ministry of Labour at 400 University Avenue (Toronto). Saturday, June 16 is just over a week after the Ontario election, and we need to be ready to show that Ontario supports – and expects – a decent work agenda from the next government.

Wherever possible, we are encouraging community, labour and student organizations to book a bus to come to Toronto or, where a bus isn’t possible, to organize actions in your community.

Remember: no matter who forms government, let’s be sure to send a strong message to our elected representatives that Ontarians deserve nothing less than $15 and Fairness for all. Help us make this happen by joining an upcoming action in the lead up to June 16:

UPCOMING EVENTS:

If you are organizing an event in your community please send us the details by filling out this handy form so we can promote it.

Saturday, May 12th
TORONTO
Canvas at Jane and Wilson
12:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Coffee Time at Jane and Wilson | Click here for the map
Let's make $15 & fairness at work the deciding issues this provincial election! We'll speak to workers on the street, and at their doorsteps, about what this election means for our wages. 
To RSVP click here & to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Sunday, May 13th 
TORONTO
Leaflet Blitz on Danforth
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM | 1188 Danforth Ave |Click here for the map
Meet us just west of Greenwood Station to spread the word about our new rights at work. No experience needed, we'll have colorful materials ready to be handed out.
To RSVP, click here.

Street Party: Mothers' Day Celebration
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Yonge-Dundas Square
This Mother's Day, join us in showing some love to the many live-in and live-out caregivers. Caregivers who take care of families, children and elderly in Canada deserve respect, fair working conditions and permanent status. Everyone (both caregivers and allies) is invited to Saturday`s street party!
To RSVP click here, to spread the word on Facebook, click here.

BRAMPTON
Workers' Meeting
2:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Terry Miller Recreation Centre, 1295 Williams Pkwy | Click here for the map
We are hosting a community event to talk about the issues at work that affect us all in Brampton. We will be inviting all of the Brampton candidates in the provincial election to come hear our stories. We want them to tell us how they are going to ensure decent work for our communities.
To let us know you're coming, click here.To spread the word on Facebook, click here.

Monday, May 14th
OTTAWA
All-Candidates Meeting: Ottawa-Orléans
7:00 - 9: 00 PM | Résidence Chapel Hill Retirement Residence, 2305 Pagé Rd | Click here for the map 
Join us as we put decent work front and centre on the agenda for the 2018 Ontario Election. We'll be asking Ottawa-Orléans candidates how they will ensure $15 & Fairness for our communities, come out and share workers' rights issues that you care about.
To RSVP, click here.

Tuesday, May 15th
TORONTO
Spanish Leaflet Blitz - Reparticion de Flyers
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM  | Jane & Finch, 3900 Jane St | Click here for the map 
There are still many workers who don't know about their rights under the new labour laws, help us get the word out. Aun hay muchxs trabajadorxs que aun no conocen cuales son los nuevos derechos que hemos ganado con el Bill-148, ven y participa distribuyendo esta informacion.
To RSVP, click here.

Decent Work and Health Network Meeting
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave , Suite 202| Click here for the map
With election campaigning in full swing, we need more than ever to stand up for decent working conditions and wages as key social determinants of health. Join us! Learn more about the network: www.decentworkandhealth.org
To RSVP,click here.

SCARBOROUGH
Southwest All-Candidates Town Hall 
6:30 - 8:30 pm | Warden Woods Community Centre, 74 Firvalley Court | Click here for the map
Join us at this All-Candidates Town Hall Meeting. Help us hand out sample questions to ask candidates so we can make sure they support decent work. For more information contact Linda, 647-299-5387.
To RSVP, click here.

Wednesday, May 16th
TORONTO
Spanish Leaflet Blitz - Reparticion de Flyers
7:00 - 9:00 AM | Jane & Wilson| Click here for the map 
Join us for an early morning outreach to talk to workers about their new rights as they head to their jobs. Bien temprano nos reuniremos en la esquina de Jane y Wilson para compartir informacion importante con nuestrxs paisanxs que se van muy temprano a trabajar, acompañanos!
To RSVP, click here.

Bloor Subway Blitz
5:00 - 6:00 PM | Bathurst Subway Station (meet-up point) 
Join us at Spadina, Bathurst, Dufferin, Dundas West and Kipling stations for a subway outreach blitz. If you are planning to come email [email protected] or show up at the entrance of Bathurst Station.
To RSVP, click here.

WATERLOO
Waterloo All-Candidates Debate
10:00 - 11:30 AM | Lazaridis School of Business & Economics | Click here for the map
 Campuses should be decent work champions! Want to know where Waterloo Provincial candidates and their parties stand on important post-secondary education issues? Join us as CBC's Craig Norris moderates a Waterloo candidates debate on the present and future of post-secondary education.
To RSVP click here, to share on Facebook click here.

OWEN SOUND
Public Forum on Workers’ Right
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre (Bay Room) | Click here for the map
The Grey Bruce Labour Council is hosting a public forum on Ontario’s new labour laws. Free event with finger food and soft drinks for the meet and greet. Come learn about our new rights and why they are so important to the health of our community. 
To share on Facebook, click here.

Thursday, May 17th
OTTAWA
All-Candidates Meeting
7:00 - 9:00 PM | Glebe Community Centre, 175 Third Ave| Click here for the map
We need every elected official to be a decent work champion! Join us as we ask Ottawa-Centre candidates how they will ensure $15 & Fairness for our communities, come out and share the workers' rights issues that you care about.
To RSVP, click here.

Saturday, May 19th
TORONTO
Outreach Blitz in Weston
12:30 - 2:30 PM | Jane & Lawrence, 1690 Jane St | Click here for the map
We'll be canvassing to make sure everyone knows about Doug Ford's plan to stop the $15 minimum wage. We'll be asking our neighbours to pledge to vote for candidates who support $15 & Fairness and put up lawn signs.
To RSVP, click here.

Monday, May 21st
SCARBOROUGH
Party outreach at Victoria Day celebration
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Miliken  Park - 5555 Steeles Ave| Click here for the map
Let’s use Victoria day to some fun outreach with music and snacks. Afterwards we can watch the fireworks at Miliken Park all together. Contact Linda 647-299-5387 if you have any questions.
To RSVP, click here.

Tuesday, May 22nd
TORONTO
Toronto-Wide Organizing Meeting
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM | 720 Spadina Ave, Suite 223 | Click here for a map
With the corporate lobby and their candidates are already organizing to roll back our labour law victories, we must stay organized. Come to the next city-wide organizing meeting in Toronto to help plan next steps!
To RSVP click here, to share on Facebook, click here.

NIAGARA
Know Your Rights Before You Vote
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | Pond Inlet, Brock University | Click here for a map
Join Niagara Workers' Activist Group, Workers' Action Centre Toronto, and Brock CUPE 4207 for a free workshop on your new rights at work. Learn what the new laws mean for you and why we cannot take them for granted.
To RSVP click here, to share on Facebook, click here. 

Wednesday, May 23rd
SCARBOROUGH
Agincourt All-Candidates meeting 
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM |SPLC - 3333 Finch Ave E | Click here for the map
Join us at Scarborough Speaks: Agincourt All-Candidates Town Hall Meeting. Help us hand out sample questions to ask candidates so we can make sure they support decent work. No experience necessary! You might also get the chance to ask a question. For more information David, 647-709-0328.
To RSVP, click here.

OSHAWA
On The Issues: Oshawa Riding Election Debate 2018
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM  | 50 King Street East  | Click here for the map
As the June 7 election date closes in, we would like to invite you to join us May 23rd for a nonpartisan election debate with candidates for the Oshawa riding at the Regent Theatre. Join us and help put the issue of decent work on the agenda.
To RSVP, click here and share on Facebook, click here.

Friday, May 25
SCARBOROUGH
All-Candidates Town Hall 
5:30 - 8:30 pm | Mid-Scarborough Hub - 2660 Eglinton Ave E | Click here for the map
Join us at Scarborough Speaks: Scarborough Centre All-Candidates Town Hall Meeting. Help us hand out sample questions to ask candidates so we can make sure they support decent work. No experience necessary! You might also get the chance to ask a question.For more information contact Linda-647-299-5387.
To RSVP, click here.

Saturday, May 26th
TORONTO
Parkdale Outreach
12:30 - 2:30 PM | Queen St W & Jameson, 1431 Queen St W| Click here for the map
We'll be canvassing to make sure everyone knows about Doug Ford's plan to stop the $15 minimum wage. We'll be asking our neighbours to pledge to vote for candidates who support $15 & Fairness and put up lawn signs.
To RSVP, click here.

Summer Outreach at Woodbine
01:00 PM - 03:00 PM | 1867 Lakeshore Blvd E | Click here for a map
We’ll hand out leaflets, collect signatures and talk to residents about protecting workers' rights, the importance of the next provincial elections, and building our movement! Consider joining in even if it's your first time! We will meet by the large Olympic pool.
To RSVP, click here.

Friday, June 1st
TORONTO
Injured Workers Rally & March
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM | Queen's Park | Click here for a map
Between the province-wide Workers’ Comp is a Right campaign and the Real Healthcare campaign, we have organized across Ontario to force the Liberal government to respond to our demands. With Injured Workers’ Day coming just a few days before the provincial election, we have one more opportunity to show our collective strength and put all the Parties on notice.
To RSVP click here and share on Facebook, click here.

Saturday, June 2nd
SCARBOROUGH
Outreach and Postering
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Markham Rd and Lawrence Ave E 
The election is heating up! We'll be leafleting at the intersection and postering far and wide. Come and join our leafleting & postering teams as we talk with workers in Scarborough. For more info, contact David 647-709-0328.
To RSVP,click here.

By Cheryl Clock

Back in 2015, in a room at the Stokes Seed building on Page Street in St. Catharines, she stood in front of a crowd, feeling awkward, anxious and yet resolutely strong. She clutched a handwritten speech and fought back some serious butterflies that had invaded her abdominal cavity the night before.

In the audience were people interested in the rights of workers. Labour representatives. Lawyers from community legal clinics. Members of the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network. And a representative from the Workers' Action Centre in Toronto.

The gathering was the inaugural meeting of the Niagara Workers' Activist Group, a grassroots organization that exists solely on the currency of passion, commitment and lived experience.

A tiny group that would be part of big changes to labour laws.

Last November, the Ontario government adopted Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act. It made changes to the Employment Standards Act, the Labour Relations Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Most notable, was the increase in the general minimum wage to $14 an hour on Jan. 1, and then to $15 an hour Jan. 1, 2019.

Facing a room of strangers, Lisa Britton, 51, told them she had worked hard all her life, but felt deeply betrayed by a fundamental idea she held as truth: That a job would guarantee her a livable wage. It did not. And never did.

No matter how hard she worked, no matter how many hours she worked, no matter where she worked, she struggled.

Indeed, she has struggled most of her life to pay for the basics such as food and rent even though she was always working. She has worked the gamut of jobs — full-time retail to call centre, and a piecemeal of low-wage, part-time employment to fill in the gaps. She has been on Ontario Works. She has used a food bank.

"I believed a job was the way out of poverty," she told the crowd. "But it's not."

For the longest time, she blamed herself. Until she realized she wasn't alone.

"I left that night with hope," she says.

"I was amazed that there were so many people in area who cared about this."

Deena Ladd, co-ordinator of the Workers' Action Centre, was there too. The meeting came on the heels of the government announcing a review of the labour laws, and Ladd, who has spent some 25 years in the field of labour activism, was set to present her organization's policy brief on changes needed.

When she heard Lisa speak, it was as if her briefing had come alive.

"I felt, have you just read our report?" says Ladd. "It was satisfying for me to see what we pulled together resonated with her experience."

Indeed, as Ladd travelled to communities across Ontario, she heard similar stories: people unable to survive on an $11-and-hour minimum wage; no paid sick days or in workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, no unpaid time off; and generally, no control over work schedules.

At the same time, groups similar to the Niagara Workers' Activist Group were forming across Ontario. Anti-poverty. Fight for $15. Labour action groups. They became places for people in low-wage, precarious jobs to find community and plan action.

"They could talk about their experiences and not feel ashamed," says Ladd. "They came feeling, 'How can I fix myself,' and realized that actually, there are others who find themselves in the same situation when the majority of jobs in their community are part-time and precarious.

"Otherwise, who provides you with that context?"

It was in these groups, existing on threadbare budgets or none at all, run by people who themselves were struggling, that individual experiences fuelled collective change.

Lisa had been working the midnight shift at a gas station and without notice, her hours were cut in half. Four shifts a week, down to two. Then eventually, down to one, on the worst night of the week for her, a Saturday. When she got off work at 7:30 a.m. every Sunday, there were no city buses running so her husband had to get up early to drive across town and pick her up.

Her employer offered vague explanations.

She called the Employment Standards Information Centre, frantic, desperate to get her hours back. "I remember crying when I was on the phone with this guy."

Nothing worked.

Meanwhile, she had joined the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network, an organization dedicated to wiping out poverty with education and advocacy.

During one meeting, frustrated and desperate, she asked if anyone had advice about restoring her shifts. "I was completely at a loss," she told them.

Jennifer Pothier, then from Niagara North Community Legal Assistance suggested that the region needed a workers' action centre, like the one in Toronto. And that's all it took. A small group, including Lisa, Pothier, Sue Hotte from the Niagara Regional Labour Council, Willy Noiles from the Ontario Network of Injured Workers' Groups organized the first town hall style meeting.

And Lisa found herself in a place she never imagined she'd be – in front of a crowd of people, telling her story.

"I couldn't understand for the longest time why it was so hard," she says.

"Why no matter how hard I worked, there was always more month than money."

Her next audience was a collection of government representatives in Hamilton, at one of several public hearings held across the province as Bill 148 was being developed.

In the fall of 2015, this time with typed speech in hand, she told her story. Again.

She talked about working two jobs, at a department store and call centre, just to have enough money to survive. She had to quit the call centre due to migraines, but work at the department store wasn't dependable. "Hours fluctuated wildly according to the season," she said. "My expenses didn't fluctuate with the seasons though. I had to pay the rent and bills anyways. It was stressful and exhausting."

Eventually, even those hours were cut to nine a week.

Her husband worked as a chef and struggled on low wages, until severe back problems forced him to quit.

Then when the hours of Lisa's barely-above-minimum-wage job at the gas station were chopped in half, she felt defeated. "I felt hopeless, like I was disposable," she said.

That meant barely surviving on Ontario Works. "My anxiety was terrible," she says. "I was a mess."

And yet, she persevered. The workers' activist group gave her purpose. Each time she shared her story, the more empowered she felt.

"I wanted to be an agent of change and here I am," she says.

"A tiny little group in Niagara made history. We made it better."

These days, Lisa lives on ODSB – the Ontario Disability Support Benefit — and she co-chairs the group's monthly meetings. She encourages other people working in low-wage, non-unionized, precarious jobs to come out and share their stories.

"Our meetings are a safe place," she says. "There's a seat at the table for everyone who wants it.

"We are the answer. The work we are doing as a movement, we are the answer."

Read The St. Catharines Standard Story