Toronto – October 20, 2020 – The UFCW Canada Ontario Provincial Council recently made a submission to the Government of Ontario putting forward our union’s recommendations for the province’s fall 2020 budget.

As the collective voice of UFCW Local Unions in Ontario, the UFCW Canada Ontario Provincial Council represents over 130,000 union members from eight Local Unions across the province working in most sectors of the economy.

The submission recommends actions that would affect UFCW members in all industries and calls for proper personal protective equipment (PPE), regular COVID-19 testing, relief for the travel and tourism sectors, presumptive Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage, as well as the following:

• Provide ten permanent paid sick days to all workers to ensure that no one has to choose between their health and their livelihood. Currently, Ontario workers do not have paid sick days under provincial employment standards, and we know that workers do not only become ill 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 that the prevailing wage rates maintain living wage status.

• Implement a “pandemic pay premium” for workers right now, and in any future period where 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 the health care sector, particularly in long-term care and retirement home settings.

• Implement a four-hour minimum direct care standard for residents in long-term care.

• To help promote staff recruitment and retention in the long-term care industry, incentive new hires by providing good employment conditions, including full-time work and appropriate, broad compensation.

“The UFCW Canada Ontario Provincial Council will continue to fight for members across this province to ensure that the government and employers take concrete actions to protect the health and safety and economic wellbeing of all workers,” says Shawn Haggerty, President of the UFCW Canada Provincial Council.

To learn more about the Council’s submission to the Ontario government, click here.

To read the full submission, click here.