A Compassionate Plan to
Stand Up for Ontario Workers
Nate’s Vision:
Ontario’s workers deserve a government that treats workers with respect and negotiates fairly. Teachers and education workers have not been dealt with fairly by this government.
We need a plan to instill stability in our public schools, address the exodus of nurses and PSWs, and improve the treatment of frontline workers. While the Ford government talks about respecting workers, it has a track record of unconstitutional wage-capping and threatening to override Charter-protected bargaining rights with the notwithstanding clause.
That’s why, Nate will repeal Bill 124 and commit to never invoke the notwithstanding clause to undermine the collective voice of workers
Recognizing that the new world of work through the platform economy continues to exploit and disadvantage workers, Nate will also pursue policy progress that the Ford government has shied away from: making the Gig Workers Bill of Rights a reality and increasing transparency on warehouse quotas.
Nate’s Plan:
- Develop a sectoral bargaining system in relevant sectors that allows workers from multiple employers to use their combined numbers to advocate for better wages, benefits and working conditions from large employers. This has been identified as an important step for stabilizing benefits for PSWs and home care nurses in particular;
- Disallow employers from hiring temporary or replacement workers where the employer has locked out employees;
- Develop a bill of rights for gig workers and workers on electronic platforms that ensures transparency in compensation, allowing workers to join a union or better advocate on their own behalf. This will build on the work that has already been done by labour leaders and the federal government, and would limit exploitative demands placed on warehouse workers;
- Increase minimum wage by $0.25 annually above inflation for a limited number of years to make up for wages that were held artificially low since 2018;
- Implement 10 paid sick days per year for all workers in Ontario;
- Strike a labour task force and act upon recommendations to better support workers, including consideration of a regional living wage, increasing paid vacation time and accommodating hybrid work;
- Conduct more workplace health and safety inspections and work with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to fulfill its mandate to provide wage-loss benefits, medical coverage, and help workers return to the workforce following an injury;
- Modernize Ontario’s labour laws to remove barriers to unionization, building on the work done by the Federal Government’s Expert Panel on Modern Labour Standards as well as Ontario’s Changing Workplaces Review;
- Support good, safe union jobs in the trades through significant capital infrastructure investments, including those related to clean electricity, transportation, schools and hospitals;
- Introduce policies to close the gender pay gap and ensure respect in the workplace;
- Fund Ontario’s broader public service so that it is positioned to recruit and retain a world class workforce.
