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

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

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

Call your Member of Parliament right now. 

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

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

Share on Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 30: Make Brock University a Decent Work campus! 

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

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

Please SHARE on Facebook here & e-mail fairwagesniagara@gmail.com to get the Zoom link! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For safe and healthy schools, we need paid sick days

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

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

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

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

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

Precarious work is a public health risk

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

Federal Sickness Benefit falls short

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s what you can do: 

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

Click here for printable leaflets.

Join an action on August 29

Bracebridge

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

Scarborough

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

Sudbury

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

Toronto

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

Vancouver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CERB: Extended for four weeks

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

New programs & EI changes are better - but temporary

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

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

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

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

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

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

The stakes between now and September 23 are high. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#SafeSeptember must mean paid sick days for ALL

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

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

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

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

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

Join the next online organizing meeting, August 18

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need your input - take the CERB survey!

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

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

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

Visit your Member of Parliament!

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

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

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

Download posters here.

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

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

Keep fighting for paid sick days!

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

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

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

Join us at an action near you:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to join the day of action on today. 

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

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

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

No public subsidies for wealthy corporations.

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

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

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

Temporary support is not enough.

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

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

We all deserve much better.

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

Click here to call your elected provincial representative 

Register here to join the day of action on Saturday. 

Scroll down for actions:

Nova Scotia: 

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

Meet outside Sobeys, 2651 Windsor Street

Hosted by Halifax Workers' Action Centre

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

Saskatchewan: 

Online action

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

CLICK HERE TO SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK  

British Columbia: 

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

1070 - 1641 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC

Hosted by Retail Action Network

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

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

880 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC

Hosted by Retail Action Network

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

Ontario: 

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

Meridian Place, 30 Simcoe Street, Barrie, ON

Hosted by Fight for $15 and Fairness - Barrie 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tim Hortons, 1084 Islington Ave, Toronto, ON

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

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

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

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

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

Hosted by OPSEU Local 5111

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

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

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

Hosted by OPSEU Local 5111

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

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

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

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

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

See you at the next one! 

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

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

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

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

Full immigration status for all

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Employer-paid sick days for safer workplaces

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CERB and the right to refuse unsafe work  

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

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

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

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

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

Join our next organizing meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Extend CERB - Make workplaces safe

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

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

• Full immigration status NOW for migrant workers

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

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

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

• Anti-Black racism is a public health issue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emergency caravan to Niagara: June 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Demand full immigration status for ALL: June 14 

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

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

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

TONIGHT: Know your rights online workshop

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

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

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

Let’s keep organizing for decent work! June 23

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

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

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

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