GM CHAIR REPORT
Message to our Members,
The Ford Government has moved a bill that, if passed, will repeal the most worker-friendly labour law reforms that happened in Ontario in a generation. Bill 47 shows us that he has chosen to side with his friends in business over the working people of this province. You will find a summary of the sweeping changes included in this legislation attached to this email. This document does not include every change in the Bill.
For the full text of the bill click here: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-47
The Ford government is attacking workers on three main fronts:
- By freezing the minimum wage at $14 and eliminating key employment standards, the government is dropping the floor for working in Ontario. For the millions of non-union workers in Ontario good employment standards ensure that employers don’t create a race to the bottom that makes working in Ontario even worse than it is now. For workers who have a collective agreement, decent employment standards are the base from which we bargain better contracts.
- By making it harder to join a union or keep the union of your choice, the Ford government is telling current workers, as well as the next generation, that they should settle for less fairness at work.
- By taking over and closing the independent Ontario College of Trades and degrading apprenticeship training, the Ford government is taking power away from the united workers’ body, threatening the future of high quality apprenticeship training, and possibly endangering skilled trades workers.
The Ford government is turning back the clock on workers’ in rights in Ontario.
Unifor will be responding to the Ford’s government attacks. Please stay tuned for actions, mobilizations, and things you can do to protect workers’ rights in Ontario.
Issued by,
Tim McKinnon, GM Unit Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
Paul Dortono, Doug Wark, John Rakich, Trevor Longpre, Ken Naldjieff