Workers Mobilize for Labour Law Reform Pages 4 Through 7 Action Report Vol
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SPECIAL FEATURE: WORKERS MOBILIZE FOR LABOUR LAW REFORM PAGES 4 THROUGH 7 ACTION REPORT VOL. 6 NO. 2 ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR SPRING 2016 President Chris Buckley P.6 FIGHTING FOR $15 AND FAIRNESS ARNIE DE VAAN PHOTO: Secretary-Treasurer ONTARIO WE WANT Patty Coates OFL Launches Campaign to Make It Fair .............................................................................4 Taking Action for $15 and Fairness ....................................................................................6 Ontario Budget Throws Public Services Under the Infrastructure Bus .....................................8 Campaign Pushes Back Against Hydro One Corruption Scandal ............................................9 Rally Calls on Wynne to #PlayFair with OLG Pensions ...........................................................9 EQUITY & HUMAN RIGHTS Executive OFL Marks International Women’s Day with Call to End Wage Discrimination........................10 Vice-President April 19 is Equal Pay Day for 2016 ....................................................................................10 MEET THE OFL OFFICERS Op-Ed: The Gender Wage Gap is About More than Wages ...................................................11 Black Lives Matter Shows that Direct Action ... Gets Action .................................................14 Ahmad Gaied Ontario Labour Councils Band Together to Challenge Racism ..............................................15 Attawapiskat First Nation Declares State of Emergency ......................................................16 ACTION REPORT Annual Strawberry Ceremony Remembers Stolen Sisters ....................................................16 ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR Wrongful Termination of New Mother Threatens Maternity Leave .........................................17 Ontario Creates New Anti-Racism Directorate ....................................................................17 The Ontario Federation of Labour represents 54 Day of Pink Takes on Bullying............................................................................................18 unions and one million workers. It is Canada’s Ontario Pride Events .........................................................................................................18 largest provincial labour federation. Volume 6, Issue 2 of the OFL Action Report HEALTH & SAFETY / WCB was produced for the April 21, 2016 meeting of Historic Legislation Supports First Responders OFL GROWS the Executive Board of the Ontario Federation of with PTSD but Leaves Others Behind ....................... 20 Labour. NDP Bill Calls for Flags to be Flown at BY 132,000 Half-Mast for Day of Mourning ................................. 20 Editor-in-Chief/Writing/Design/Layout: Joel Duff New Affiliations since Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) OFL NEWS January 1, 2016 Fédération du travail de l’Ontario (FTO) Letter from OFL President Chris Buckley .....................3 OPSEU 130,000 members 15 Gervais Drive, Suite 202 OPSEU Membership Votes 93.8% in Favour of Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8 Re-Joining the OFL ................................................. 12 USW 2010 690 members OFL Hires Two New Staff to Strengthen the USW 6565 128 members 416-441-2731 • 1-800-668-9138 Labour Movement Inside and Out .............................13 TDD: 416-443-6305 FAX: 416-441-1893 • OFL Stalwart Retires After 46 Years .......................... 19 CUPE 3907 200 members [email protected] Labour & Human Rights Dates ................................. 18 Wilfrid Laurier University Upcoming Events .................................................... 21 Faculty Association 918 members IN MEMORIAM We are stronger together! Jim Freeman: 1955-2016 ....................................... 22 FRONT COVER PHOTO: JOEL DUFF PHOTO: FRONT COVER This document was proudly produced with unionized labour: JD/ph:cope343 SUBSCRIBE TO THE OFL E-NEWSLETTER BY TEXTING THE WORD “OFL” TO 647-496-5602 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT PHOTO: PETER BOYLE @CHRISBUCKLEYOFL Sisters and Brothers, We are less than six months into the first term of your new OFL leadership and I am proud to report that we have made significant strides in the commitments that we made to you back at our November Convention. Both internally and externally, our movement is moving forward. On April 14, delegates to the annual Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) convention voted 93.8 percent in favour of ending their five-year hiatus from Ontario’s house of labour with the historic decision to re-join the OFL. The very next day, OPSEU joined the OFL on the streets in cities and towns across Ontario to lock arms with non-unionized workers in a province-wide campaign for $15 and Fairness. We proved that together we are stronger. This spring, the OFL also launched “Make It Fair,” our flagship campaign to mobilize union support for labour law reform alongside the Fight for $15 and Fairness. The campaign is centred on the province’s “Changing Workplaces Review” and gives voice to union demands for across-the-board changes to the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act that would improve employment standards for every worker and make it easier to join a union. It is an ambitious and decentralized plan that is designed to empower activists in 16 target communities to drive political pressure from the grass roots to make decent work the law of the land. We cannot accomplish these objectives alone. The OFL is reaching out to every union and every local to support the campaign, join the OFL, and affiliate to their local labour council. The labour movement cannot advance unless we are truly committed to the principle of labour solidarity. The OFL is also reaching out to non-unionized workers, community partners and equity-seeking groups to support their struggles in an effort to earn their trust, build relationships and win their support for our campaign. In this report, you will see more equity work reported on than any previous OFL report. We have stood in solidarity with Black Lives Matter–Toronto, Indigenous peoples, Muslim people, the Equal Pay Coalition, injured workers and the LGBTQ community. This is a reflection of our collective recognition that these community alliances will be vital to both the immediate success of our labour law campaign and our long-term goal of building a common front against austerity. I am calling on each and every union member in Ontario to support the Make It Fair campaign and to join the OFL in our fight to change Ontario’s outmoded labour laws. Together, we can raise the bar for every worker and to make every job a pathway out of poverty. In order to seize this opportunity, we must be united and we must be relentless. In solidarity, Sign up for the OFL’s new e-blast updates by texting the word “OFL” to 647-496-5602 Follow & Retweet the OFL on Twitter at: Chris Buckley, @OFLabour and @ChrisBuckleyOFL President of the Ontario Federation of Labour OFL ACTION REPORT 3 THE ONTARIO WE WANT OFL LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO MAKE IT FAIR: GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT FOR LABOUR LAW REFORM TO HIT TARGET REGIONS The OFL kicked its campaign for labour law The success of this campaign very much de- reform into full swing in March, with launch of pends on the commitment of every union and ev- MakeItFair.ca. The campaign is focused on seiz- ery member. We are calling on every union and ing the historic opportunity presented by Ontar- every local to pass a resolution to support the io’s “Changing Workplaces Review” to champion campaign, assign activists to every regional hub sweeping changes to the Employment Standards where they have members and to affiliate to their Act and the Labour Relations Act that would ele- local labour council. vate employment standards for every worker and The campaign website is designed as a central make it easier to join a union. repository for action. Throughout history, unionized workers have It drives visitors to sign up to “take the pledge”, been able to win incredible gains at the bargain- With the balance shifted to precarious work, ev- which will allow the OFL to grow a list of key ing table that have become the law of the land. ery worker is being dragged into a race to the bot- supporters to mobilize for future actions, based Important rights like maternity benefits, unemploy- tom but the OFL campaign intends to bring labour on their union and their region. The site provides ment insurance, the 40-hour week and a ban on unions together to reverse that trend! updates and campaign documents, along with child labour would never have been won without At the heart of the campaign is a strategy to regionally specific data on current labour market that collective power. mobilize our movement from below to put strate- trends and measures of inequality. However, the Today, Ontario’s workplaces are changing dra- gic pressure on vulnerable members of provincial defining feature of the site is a live and interactive matically and all workers are losing ground. parliament to support our campaign or suffer de- event calendar that provides regionally specific, There are roughly two million unionized workers feat in the next election. We have organized the real-time updates on meetings and actions in ev- but there are over 1.7 million low-wage workers province into 16 target regions and in each one we ery one of our target communities. earning at or near the minimum wage. Over half of are setting up a “Local Organizing Hub” to drive a The OFL is dedicating all of its energies to the our workforce are trapped in precarious