Stop Ford's Attack on Workers

$2 | No 610 | November 2018 | socialist.ca Photo: Michael YC Tseng BUILD THE RESISTANCE Stop Ford’s attack on workers he Doug Ford Tories are look- and family friend Gavin Tighe who is The freeze on the minimum wage You can’t live in Toronto on that. You company that left Ontario. He could ing out for the CEOs – not the getting paid a $667,000 yearly salary at $14 will result in a cut in real just can’t.” not, nor could any of the half dozen little guy. Their plan to scrap by the people of Ontario. wages. The doom and gloom argu- She will be one of 1.6 million peo- cabinet ministers who joined him at Tthe hard fought workers’ The response has been swift. Ral- ments about the loss of jobs after ple who will continue to suffer as the the press conference. gains in Bill 148 will only help the lies, marches and pickets were orga- the wage increase have not borne minimum wage cannot pay for the The next weeks will be a crucial rich at the expense of the rest of us. nized all over the province the day out. In fact, giving more workers skyrocketing cost of living. time for the people of Ontario. People Ford has announced Bill 47 which after the announcement. a raise means that they spend that Ford has said that there has been an will need to be on the streets in num- would cut sick days, scrap the expect- Workers from all backgrounds money locally, providing a boost to exodus of companies moving out of bers to stop Ford. Shamefully, the big ed $15 minimum wage increase and will be affected by Ford’s actions. the economy. Ontario because of Bill 148. During battalions of the labour movement roll back a host of workers’ rights. The loss of sick days will mean Christine, a speaker at the Toron- the announcement of the repeal, re- have yet to acivate and they will be All the while, his advisors and more people going to work when ill to rally on March 15 said, “All my porters asked Jim Wilson, Minister needed to stop the Tory attacks. friends are being given plush new which will cost all of us in increased jobs are minimum wage. Last year of Economic Development, Job Cre- For full coverage jobs. He recently hired his lawyer healthcare costs. I earned in the vicinity of $22,000. ation and Trade if he could name any please see page 2 Bill 148 and people Ford cuts healthcare with disabilities funding, prepares ground by Melissa Graham part of the workforce. This is also why some well-intentioned families want the On October 3rd 2018, Premier Ford return of sheltered workshops. spoke to Provincial Parliament in de- By removing that exemption, the Lib- for privatization fense of his decision to repeal Bill 148, erals sparked a conversation about how the Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs workers with disabilities are perceived by John Bell Health Act outright. According to money”; this is a one-time infu- Act: in Ontario, and why some people and Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) sion aimed at dealing with the “Speaker, I’ll never forget when I politicians think they deserve less than “No attempt at ethical or social research, 88 clinics across the upturn in patient visits during flu went to Renfrew—Minister of Trans- other workers. seduction can eradicate from country charge user fees. season. The amount is actually portation, John Yakabuski. I saw 20 In the 2018 provincial election, there my heart a deep burning hatred In Ontario the Tories under less than that spent by the Wyn- people with disabilities come up to me were a number of Conservative candi- for the Tory Party. So far as I am Harris, and then the Liberals ne Liberals at the same time and say, “Doug, I lost my job because dates who campaigned on bringing these concerned they are lower than under McGuinty and Wynne, last year, and will do nothing to of Bill 148.” These are young people sheltered workshops back. They capital- vermin.” –Aneurin Bevan created a “crisis” in healthcare address the systemic problems and young adults with autism. Thou- ized on the gap in services, and directed Most will be unfamiliar with where patients face overcrowd- behind “hallway healthcare.” sands across the province lost their jobs the anger, inaccurately and convenient- Welsh firebrand Bevan, one of ed facilities, longer waits for It must be noted that Ford’s because of Bill 148. Students lost their ly, at Bill 148, much like Ford did a few the outstanding MPs in British non-emergency treatment, and announcement came not at an jobs because of Bill 148. We’re going weeks ago. Labour Party history. Think the staff shortages. Now the Tories open press conference, but at to create jobs. We’re going to make sure The Liberals did the right thing by Jeremy Corbyn of his day. Bevan under Doug Ford promise to a closed-door photo op. Critics we hire students, hire people with spe- closing sheltered workshops. To re- was Health Minister in Clement solve “hallway healthcare.” like OHC’s Natalie Mehra and cial needs.” open them now would be a huge step Atlee’s postwar Labour govern- representatives from the On- He was referring to the closure of shel- backwards. There are ways to provide ment, who oversaw the creation Tory medicine tario Nurses’ Association were tered workshops across Ontario. These employment supports in community for of the National Health Service. Expecting Ford to solve the very excluded, forced to stand in an workshops have been in gradual closure equal pay, but that requires political will He spent a lifetime fighting Tories problem he and those like him outside hallway instead. since 2015 as part of a process to mod- and adequate funding. who didn’t just turn a callous, created is ridiculous. Everything Finally, all of Ford’s coming ernize and individualize employment supports for disabled people. The coming attack on social Sheltered workshops in Ontario are assistance typically run by not-for-proft organiza- Sheltered workshops are only part of the tions funded by the Ministry of Commu- problem. For workers who are also on nity and Social Services (MCSS). They the Ontario Disability Support Program provide work for people who struggle to (ODSP), the current earnings exemption, fnd jobs, often adults who have devel- recently increased by the Liberals, allows opmental disabilities. Originally, they social assistance recipients to keep $200 were created to be temporary places of their gross wages per month. Every where people would learn job skills. dollar over $200 reduces their income In reality, many people have worked at support by 50% of those wages. ODSP blind eye to the deadly health his Ontario government has cuts will make life harder for issues facing Welsh coal miners; done promises to make things people in Ontario: harder to pay many of those Tories were mine worse. bills, harder to find an apart- owners profiting from shortened One of Ford’s first acts was ment, harder to stay home rath- life spans and brutal exploitation. to appoint Dr. Rueben Devlin as er than have to spread illness Bevan considered universal his special advisor on health- at work. health care a human right: “The care. Devlin is indeed special: Full disclosure: part of this collective principle asserts former president of the Ontario was written during a recent stint that ... no society can legitimately Conservative Party during the in hospital. There were indeed call itself civilised if a sick person Mike Harris years; advocate patients on gurneys in the halls is denied medical aid because of of privatized medicine; and of the ER where I was admitted. lack of means.” former CEO of a “public private When asked, nurses laughed partnership” hospital that spent openly about the prospect of Creating a crisis a fortune replacing staff with Doug Ford solving the problem. Since the early 1960s most digital resources. Ford is paying One told me they expect the Canadians have come to agree Devlin $350,000 (plus expens- trend of nurse layoffs to contin- with Bevan, and identify health- es) for advice. ue: “We’re already serving more care as an essential part of Next Ford appointed former patients per nurse than is safe. our national identity. But “free BC Liberal premier Gordon It should be 4 to each nurse. market” Tories disagree; they Campbell to oversee an exam- I’m looking after 6, and that’s see only an opportunity to make ination of the Wynne govern- on a good day.” profit snatched from their grasp. ment’s policies. Natalie Mehra Smaller health facilities will be Doug Ford’s Tories, like the of the OHC sums up Campbell’s amalgamated for “efficiency”, Conservatives Bevan battled, record on healthcare: “I was beds will be closed and staff them for decades, some for most of their also provides $100 each month a person believe that no one is entitled trying to think of who could ac- made redundant as a result. This lives. works or when their business makes a to anything unless they can tually be worse than him to be is already happening at hospitals proft. This is called the Work-Related afford to buy it. appointed into that position… in Lindsay and Peterborough. And Where Bill 148 comes in Beneft, because apparently the Liberals The very popularity of our He has a terrible record on the crisis in healthcare will be Sheltered workshop workers were paid lack a sense of irony.

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