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Letter of Protest Re: Businesses welcome Ontario's move to halt minimum wage hike, cut red tape
This just isn’t about the minimum wage. Other very basic worker protections that were expected Jan. 1, 2019 have also been tossed aside. Even the two paid sick days were deemed too much for employers to absorb. Union rights and safety standards for workers have also been put under the axe.
One particularly reprehensible move surrounds ‘sheltered workplaces’, which allows for workers with disabilities to be employed outside of the Employment Standards Act, meaning they can be paid even less than minimum wage and do not benefit from other protections left in the Act.
To Premier Doug Ford, this blatant exploitation is what it means to be “Open for Business".
The Progressive Conservatives (PC) like to claim that they have a mandate for all of this. The fact is Premier Ford never mentioned Bill 148 on the campaign trail. Why not? Because 40 per cent of PC voters support a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Ontario was blindsided by these regressive changes to workers’ rights and they are not happy. Since their announcement yesterday, we have been inundated with people contacting us to find out how they can stop this legislation.
The PCs also like to claim that there was a lack of consultation on the issue. If that is the case, we would have expected our York Region MPPs to meet with workers in their riding. Each attempt at discussing Bill 148 in earnest has been ignored or delayed.
This is not how you govern “For the People”. Surely, with 1.7 million people earning minimum wage in Ontario, they should have a say in the matter. But they haven’t.
Fight for $15 and Fairness aims to represent the workers in Ontario who are in desperate need of labour reforms, who need to be heard. And they need our support right now.
We encourage all Ontarians to contact their local MPPs to let them know how they feel about fair wages, basic health provisions and safe workplaces.
Jessa McLean, Fight for $15 and Fairness
