Last week a 5th temp agency worker was killed at Fiera Foods, a food processing plant in Toronto. We’re filled with heartbreak and rage, because we know this death could have been prevented.
Tell the Ford government to take immediate action:
Click here to sign the petition
Fiera hires 70% of its workforce through temporary staffing agencies in order to keep costs low. How? Because in Ontario, the cost of injuries to temp workers are applied to the temp agencies, NOT to the companies that hire them. For bad bosses like Fiera, the lives of temp agency workers are cheap. We need to: Make. This. End. Now.
Raise your voice to demand the Ford Government act immediately to close this loophole and bring in workplace protections to ensure our safety on the job -- click here to add your name. The legislation to close this loophole already exists, but Ford’s Conservatives need to enact it.
When Premier Ford rolled back the workplace protections we won previously, he gave bad bosses the green light to abuse our rights with impunity. There was no excuse for lowering fines for employers who break the law or allowing companies to pay temp agency workers less than their directly hired co-workers. Ford must reverse course now!
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To send a clear message to the government, and put Fiera Foods on notice, we’re calling for a protest this Wednesday. Together with local community groups and labour unions, we will hold a public rally outside the factory where the 57 year-old father of two died. Please join us on Wednesday, October 2nd, at 3:00 PM at 50 Marmora Street to say workers at Fiera Foods are not alone. Click here to sign up for the rally!
Can’t join us at the rally? Please take a moment right now to sign the petition to the Conservative government (click here). We are demanding that they:
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Enact immediately the legislation (Section 83(4) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act) that make companies that use temp workers responsible for the cost of workplace injuries and death. Only then will companies begin to protect workers health and safety.
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Make it illegal for companies to rely on temp agency workers for the bulk of their workforce, by:
- Ensuring temp agency workers become directly-hired workers of the client company after three (3) months of assignment;
- Providing just cause protection for a temp agency worker if, at the end of the assignment, another temp worker is hired to do the work previously done by the terminated temp worker;
- Placing a 20% cap on the number of temp agency workers used by a company at any given time;
- Ending all penalties or fees when a client company directly hires workers
- Restore the legal protections cancelled by the Ford government, including the right to equal pay for equal work for part-time, contract, and temp agency workers; paid sick days; fairer scheduling rules; $15 minimum wage; and more.
Finally, we must also demand that Fiera Foods be investigated for criminal negligence causing death under Canada’s Criminal Code. This is the 5th death at Fiera. It is a crime.