Government and Democracy

Originally published in The Hill Times

The past 20 months have been devastating for Canada’s aerospace workers.

Analysts agree that even though air traffic is slowly filling the skies again, the aerospace industry isn’t in the clear yet. Not by a long shot.

By: Angelo DiCaro, Unifor Director of Research

Ontario’s recent decision to raise the provincial wage floor to $15 (including for servers) caught many by surprise. The governing Progressive Conservatives campaigned to scrap this exact pay hike when they ran for government back in 2018. Nonetheless, the 65-cent increase is welcome news and – once again – sparks a conversation on the need for living wages across the country.

TORONTO- New legislation to set a $15 minimum wage in Ontario will help the province’s lowest-paid workers and raise wages for thousands of Unifor members with minimum wage plus clauses in their collective agreements.

“Workers on the frontlines of our retail, wholesale, gaming, warehousing and broader service sectors who are paid a fraction of their worth will see this increase directly,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “I’m glad this government has reversed course and has now decided to raise workers’ wages.”

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in favour of workers in a precedent-setting case about the method employers must use to maintain proxy pay equity for their predominantly female workforce.

By Sune Sandbeck, National Representative, Research Department

The debate over what to do about inflation has been heating up over the past few months. With the annual growth in the consumer price index (CPI) reaching 4.4% in September, calls are growing louder for the Bank to accelerate its plans to increase interest rates.

TORONTO –The federal government’s decision to end the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) before implementing a permanent fix for the country’s inadequate Employment Insurance (EI) program will revert workers to failed pre-pandemic income security measures, Unifor says.

TORONTO – The steps taken by the Ontario government to protect temporary workers and regulate unscrupulous temp agencies are a good start, but further action is needed to improve health and safety for such workers, Unifor says.

“These fly by night agencies have damaged communities by exploiting the most vulnerable workers, including racialized workers, women, newcomers and migrant workers,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said.

“We commend the government for listening to advocates and community members and introducing these changes.”

As the Ontario Legislature opened on October 4, long-term care activists came together to send a clear message to MPPs: No more broken promises. No more substandard care. We demand real action now!

TORONTO — Unifor is calling on the Ontario government to enact legislation to ban anti-vaccine protests near hospitals, schools, daycares and COVID-19 immunization and testing clinics.

“Anti-vaccine protests not only put the health and safety of our members but the entire community at risk,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “These COVID heroes have sacrificed so much for the betterment of society and to have a group of people intimidating them while working is unacceptable. Our COVID heroes deserve better.”