CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 79

Transcription

1 CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 79 Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, July 21, 2017-

2 Good Jobs Reduce Poverty and Inequality CUPE Local 79 is pleased to submit our views on Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. Local 79 represents approximately 20,000 Members who work at the City of Toronto, Toronto Community KEY PRIORITIES Housing Corporation (TCHC), and Bridgepoint Hospital. Many of our members particularly those working in Toronto Successor rights Employment and Social Services, Toronto Public Health, Paid sick days Children s Services, and Shelter, Support and Housing Equal Pay for Equal Work Administration work directly with residents and $15 minimum wage communities experiencing poverty. On behalf of all our Getting paid on time members, Local 79 offers its support for many of the Card-based certification provisions in Bill 148. Local 79 nonetheless notes that many Scheduling of the proposed changes do not go far enough to provide Domestic/Sexual Violence Leave meaningful protections for workers. Local 79 s submission focuses on eight key priorities. We note that many of the issues Bill 148 addresses are not restricted to private sector employment: our members working for the City of Toronto experience scheduling problems and work for wages that are below Toronto s living wage rate. Our submission focuses on areas where we have been pushing the City of Toronto to take a leadership role, both as an employer and as a public policy-maker. Toronto s City Council has adopted a poverty reduction strategy and asked staffed to develop a set of standards to measure whether or not contracted out jobs provide workers with decent work. The City recently deferred development of these standards in anticipation of the Changing Workplace Review recommendations and legislation, so it is essential that the Province set a high bar. Despite limiting the scope of our own submission, Local 79 strongly endorses the positions taken by the $15 and Fairness campaign and the Ontario Federation of Labour. Their positions reflect a widespread recognition that the best pathway out of poverty is a good job. There exist solid economic justifications for increasing the minimum wage and implementing other strategies to promote decent work. 1 There is also an undeniable moral rationale: when people work, they should receive a living wage and be guaranteed dignity and safety in the workplace. Local 79 s submission focuses on principles that promote poverty reduction and fairness. Other supports housing, child care, public transit, for example are important strategies for poverty reduction and those who are not able to work deserve to live free of poverty as well. In the context of Bill 148, though, we cannot emphasize enough the urgent need to rebalance Ontario s employment and labour legislation. Key Priorities Local 79 joins the broader labour movement and diverse community groups in supporting the following aspects of Bill 148. As with many of our allies, we see these as important first steps. We hope the Committee will also adopt amendments to fully protect workers in all sectors. CUPE Local 79 pg. 2

3 Successor Rights. CUPE Local 79 strongly supports improvements to successor rights for building services contracts. Contract flipping is a notorious and all-too-common strategy for union-busting so ensuring successor rights levels the playing field. CUPE has particular concerns with the effects of contracting out on workers and Local 79 is therefore happy to see successor rights extended to all public services. Contracting out and other privatization initiatives don t save money by finding efficiencies, they save money by reducing the wages, benefits and job security of workers. Ensuring union representation through successor rights is key to protecting workers from bearing the brunt of privatization. Paid Sick Days. Mandating access to ten personal emergency days per year is a good start, but only guaranteeing two paid days falls well short of what is needed to support worker health and promote healthy workplaces. Workers ought to be guaranteed at least seven paid personal emergency leave days per year. This would mean workers can recover fully from illness before returning to work without worrying that they will fall short on rent or grocery money. Allowing for full recovery reduces the likelihood that the illness will spread to other workers, thereby reducing overall absences. Equal Pay for Equal Full-time Work. Bill 148 makes good progress on ensuring that workers employment status the fact that they are part time, casual, contract, or temporary does not affect the wages they receive. Even as public sector employees, Local 79 part-time and temporary members sometimes face situations where they are performing the same duties as full-time permanent employees yet with less compensation (including benefits). Given that part-time and temporary workers are particularly vulnerable to financial stress and uncertainty, ensuring fairness in their wages is an essential first step in reducing the burdens precarious employment creates. A Living Wage. Local 79 advocates for the City of Toronto to become a living wage employer. A living wage is the hourly amount a worker would need to earn to ensure they could meet minimal household expenses (assuming they are working full time). Living wages are calculated on a local basis to reflect local costs of living. Although the $15 minimum wage proposed by Bill 148 falls short of a living wage in most areas of the province, it is an important start and one Local 79 strongly supports. However, the lower minimum wages for students, liquor servers, homeworkers and hunting and fishing guides need to be removed to promote fairness in all sectors of the economy. Getting Paid on Time. The workers most affected by Bill 148 are also the workers who are most vulnerable to unanticipated disruptions in their income. It is essential, therefore, that workers have access to meaningful guarantees that they will be paid for their work within 30 days. Unfortunately, the proposed increases to fines for non-payment are negligible. Providing for liens to be placed on nonpaying employers, hiring more employment standards officers, increasing monetary penalties, and no longer requiring employees to contact their employer before filing claims under the Employment Standards Act are important first steps. However, Bill 148 needs to be amended to ensure there are no exceptions to employment standards protections under the ESA, to ensure migrant workers receive special protections from reprisals, and to protect workers from reprisals during the complaints process, particularly by allowing anonymous and third-party complaints. CUPE Local 79 pg. 3

4 Although Local 79 supports the first steps taken above, Bill 148 also has a number of serious shortcomings. Local 79 urges the Committee to amend the bill to address these problems and provide urgently-needed protections for Ontario s workers. The major shortcomings include: Limited Card-Based Certification. Workers have the right to join unions in order to pursue dignity, security and fair wages in the workplace. The current Labour Relations Act unfairly disadvantages workers seeking to join together to protect their rights. Although Local 79 is happy to see cleaners will have access to card-based certification, all workers ought to have this option. Card-based certification is the best way to allow workers to express their democratic right to unionize while protecting them from employer retributions. Fair Scheduling. Bill 148 makes a good start toward fair scheduling by ensuring employees receive three hours pay for short-notice cancellations, but it falls short by not requiring employers to provide schedules two weeks in advance. Adequate notice of schedules is essential for workers who need to balance multiple jobs with family obligations. Local 79 represents about 10,000 part-time workers and many of them experience challenges with shift scheduling. In too many cases, schedules are not posted until a few days before their shift starts, leaving them little ability to plan their lives or negotiate other requirements of their time, including other work. Late posting of shifts is especially unfair when employees are often required to guarantee their availability far in advance of knowing whether they will have work. In fact, recent research has shown that unionized precarious workers are more likely than their non-unionized counterparts to report often or sometimes experiencing uncertainty over their work schedule that prevents them from doing things with friends and family. 2 Domestic and Sexual Violence. Although Bill 148 provides for two days paid personal emergency leave that could be used by people escaping domestic and/or sexual violence, it is simply not enough. In 2014 Local 79 member Zahra Abdille and her sons Faris and Zain were killed by Zahra s husband. We felt this loss deeply and are keenly aware of how lack of proper supports forced Zahra and her children to return to an unsafe situation. We therefore urge the Committee, in the strongest possible terms, to include Bill 26 s extremely important provisions in Bill 148. Bill 26, Domestic and Sexual Violence Workplace Leave, Accommodation and Training Act, 2016 passed second reading with unanimous support, meaning its principles have already been endorsed by the Legislature. Yet, while Bill 26 provides for up to 10 days paid leave for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as well as additional unpaid leave, workplace accommodations, and training, Bill 148 only provides for two paid and eight unpaid days. Beyond the specific recommendations above, Local 79 urges the Committee to end the multitude of exemptions and exceptions to the ESA and the LRA. The Provincial Government has a responsibility to protect all workers, without exception. Poverty, Inequality and Decent Work In 2015, Local 79 surveyed our members regarding income inequality and poverty in Toronto. CUPE Local 79 pg. 4

5 89.6% agreed that income inequality is having a significant negative impact on their community; 90.7% agreed that income inequality is having a significant negative impact on Toronto as a city; 95% agreed that the gap between the rich and the poor has increased; and, Many who responded pointed to the importance of employment supports for helping people escape poverty. These results are unsurprising. Toronto is deeply and increasingly unequal. 1 in 4 children are living in poverty. There are 18,000 low-income families waiting for child care subsidies and nearly 100,000 households waiting for access to subsidized housing. Meanwhile, the cost of rent, food and transit steadily increase. In the face of these pressures, almost 50% of workers in the Greater Toronto Area experience some form of employment precarity. We need immediate action to promote good jobs. Changes to the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act are long overdue. Local 79 was pleased to provide our recommendations to the Changing Workplaces Review Committee and are equally pleased to participate in the current debate. Our members have a unique understanding of the issues, both as service providers to low-income and working people and as workers who are exposed to erratic scheduling, the threat of contracting out, and lack of equal pay for equal work. We ask that the Committee give careful consideration to the issues we have raised and are always available for further discussion. 1 2 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Focus on Inequality and Growth, December Jonathan D. Ostry, Andrew Berg, and Charalambos G. Tsangarides. Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth. International Monetary Fund. February Paul K. Sonn and Yannet M. Lathrop. Raise Wages, Kill Jobs? Seven Decades of Historical Data Find No Correlation Between Minimum Wage Increases and Employment Levels. National Employment Law Project. May Social Planning Toronto. The Union Advantage. June CUPE Local 79 pg. 5