UFCW Canada OPC Submission to Ontario Ministry of Finance
October 16, 2020
Submission by the UFCW Canada Ontario Provincial Council to the Ontario Ministry of Finance — Recommendations relating to the Fall 2020 Budget
Recently a submission was made on behalf of all the Ontario UFCW Locals, to the Ontario government with recommendations for the fall 2020 budget. UFCW Canada Ontario Provincial Council represents over 130,000 union members from eight local unions in most sectors of the economy in the province of Ontario.
This document includes actions that are relevant for UFCW members across all sectors and includes: proper PPE, COVID-19 testing, recovery in the travel and tourism sectors, presumptive WSIB coverage as well as but not limited to:
- Provide ten permanent paid sick days to all workers, so no one has to choose between their health and their livelihoods. Currently, Ontario workers have zero paid sick days under employment standards and workers don’t only get sick during pandemics.
- Substantially increase the minimum wage to that of a living wage, with indexing to follow inflation on a go forward basis and ensure the wage rates maintain living wage status.
- Implement a “pandemic pay premium” for workers now and any future period in which public health organizations declare a public health emergency and workers continue to report to work.
- Implement an across the board wage increase for all workers in healthcare, particularly in long-term care, retirement and settings.
- Implement a four-hour minimum direct care standard for residents in long-term care.
- Ensure staff recruitment and retention by incentivizing new hires to the industry by providing good employment conditions including full-time work and appropriate broad compensation.
Your Union will continue to fight for the members across this province to ensure the government and employers take concrete actions to protect the health and safety and economic security of all workers.