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Ontario
Government Announces Consultation on
Temp Agency
Work
Treated like
second class workers - not getting public holiday pay, vacation pay and
having to pay fees for work only to be denied access to permanent work.
These are just some of the conditions facing temp agency workers who
make 40% less then permanent workers. That is why the
Workers’ Action Centre has been calling on the government to take
action on temp agency work and all precarious work that leave all too
many working yet poor.
The Ontario government has responded. On May 21, 2008,
Labour Minister Duguid released “A
Consultation Paper on Work through Temporary Help Agencies.” In this
paper, the government says it is “committed to ensuring that employees
working through temporary help agencies are properly protected under the
law.” The government wants responses on some of the key issues facing
temp agency workers:
- Public holiday pay for temp agency workers
- Who’s responsible when temp agency workers don’t
get their pay or other employment rights
- Barriers to permanent employment
- Fees charged to workers by agencies
- Ensuring workers get information about
assignments.
The deadline for response is July 7, 2008.
After that we hope to see changes brought forward in legislation this
fall. Take a look at the Workers’ Action Centre
brief for the consultation.
How to Respond to Consultation Paper:
Click here to view the consultation paper.
Comments on the Consultation Paper must be provided by
July 7, 2008 to:
Temporary Help Agency Employees Project
400 University Ave, 12th Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 1T7
Fax: 416-314-5855 Attn: Temporary Help Agency Employees Project
Email:
tempagencyempl@ontario.ca
What can you do?
1) Make a submission.
2) Join WAC
(Workers Action Centre) - We need to keep pushing to see real
improvements for people in temp agency and all precarious work.
3) Join the
Ontario Workers Need a Fair Deal campaign.
For more details
about what you can do, visit the
Workers Action Centre website.
Government Consultations on Poverty Reduction
have begun
The
Ontario Government has committed to developing an Ontario Poverty
Reduction Strategy by the end of 2008. The strategy will focus initially
on reducing child poverty. Government consultations have begun and are
expected to wrap up by June 30th, 2008. The Income Security Advocacy
Centre (ISAC) is working to ensure low-income people are included in the
consultations and that the strategy benefits all people living in
poverty, including people on social assistance.
Call 1-866-614-5953 (TTY 1-800-387-5559) to provide
your input to the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Go to
ISAC’s website for:
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Up-to-date
information on the government's consultation schedule
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Information on how to
get involved and speak up about your ideas for
ending poverty
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Key points to make
about social assistance during the consultations
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An MPP lobby kit on
ODSP issues
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25 in 5 Declaration
on Poverty Reduction
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A workshop
facilitator’s guide for consulting with low-income people in your
community.
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Other useful poverty
reduction resources and websites
View our new
Poverty Reduction page for more information on fighting poverty!
Report calls for a national effort to defeat poverty
http://www.ncwcnbes.net/
Canada needs a national anti-poverty plan to ensure a successful
future for our country, the National Council of Welfare (NCW) said in a
report published today.
The report,
Poverty Profile, 2002 and 2003, (PDF format, 165 pgs) shows that in
spite of progress made in the fight against poverty among seniors,
poverty rates for children and working-age adults are about the same as
they were almost a quarter century ago. Income inequality is growing and
many groups of Canadians continue to have unacceptably high poverty
rates. For those in need today, however, Canada's social safety net
offers less protection against poverty than ever before.
"Governments cannot walk away from social policy," states Council
Chairperson John Murphy of Canning, Nova Scotia. "About 16 percent of
Canadians, or 4.9 million people, lived in poverty in 2003. Many jobs
pay too little to let people pull themselves and their families out of
poverty. This report shows that full-time, full year employment is not
always enough to make ends meet. "
The report calls for a long-term plan with clear goals to prevent and
reduce poverty and inequality. The plan needs to explore innovative
solutions and include a process that involves Canadians living in
poverty. It should respect the social and economic rights that Canadians
have under international agreements, including the right to an adequate
standard of living. To be effective, it must have indicators and targets
so that governments and leaders can be held accountable.
Two provinces in Canada are leading the way. Quebec and Newfoundland
and Labrador have their own poverty reduction strategies. Other
countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordic states,
have made considerable progress in addressing poverty.
"Poverty not only results in individual misery, it also does not make
good economic sense," says Murphy. "People living in poverty are more
likely to experience poor health and well-being. This in turn limits
Canada's economic performance.
Preventing and reducing poverty is essential if we are to have a
strong and prosperous country."
. Welfare is the main source of income for a surprisingly small
percentage of people living in poverty. For example, only 28 percent of
poor single-parent mothers relied primarily on welfare in 2003.
. The number of working-age single people who survive on incomes of
less than half the poverty line more than tripled between 1989 and 2003,
jumping from 163,000 to 552,000.
. Average earnings for full-time, full year workers living in poverty
were extremely low in 2003-$9,522 for single people and $16,333 for
families.
. The average depth of poverty for poor families ranges from $3,300
for single senior women to $9,900 for two-parent families.
Poverty Profile is a regular publication of the Council that is based
on survey data from Statistics Canada. It includes detailed information
about poverty rates and numbers, depth of poverty, duration of poverty,
common sources of income for poor people, income inequality in Canada
and poverty and the paid labour market.
The full report, as well as a number of fact sheets, is available at
www.ncwcnbes.net.
The National Council of Welfare is a citizens' advisory group to the
Minister of Human Resources and Social Development on matters of concern
to low-income people in Canada.
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__________________
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
National Council of Welfare
112 Kent Street, 9th Floor
Place de Ville, Tower B
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0J9
Telephone: (613) 957-2961
Fax: (613) 957-0680
Laurel Rothman, Director of
Social Reform and National Coordinator, Campaign 2000
Family Service Association of
Toronto
355 Church St.
Toronto, ON M5B 1Z8
416 595-9230 ext. 228 cell
416 575-9230
www.campaign2000.ca
www.makepovertyhistory.ca
www.fsatoronto.com
July 22, 2006 -
Toronto Star editorial
Persistent Poverty Shames this Nation Nearly 25
years ago, Canada was criticized harshly, yet fairly, for its high rates
of poverty among children and working-age adults. Now, despite economic
upswings and downturns over the last quarter-century, those rates remain
as stubbornly high as they were in the early 1980s, while our social
safety net offers less protection against poverty than ever.
Today, almost 5 million Canadians live in poverty. And
despite Parliament's call in 1989 to eliminate child poverty by 2000, an
estimated 1.2 million children under age 18 are growing up in poverty.
This is a national disgrace for a country as rich as
ours.
That point was driven home this week in a sobering new
report from the National Council of Welfare, a federally mandated
advisory body. Enough is enough, the council said in effect, arguing
rightly that it is well past time for the federal government to draw up
a long-term plan, complete with clear goals to prevent and reduce
poverty and inequality in this country.
A national plan clearly makes sense. Countries ranging
from Ireland to the United Kingdom and the Nordic states are making huge
progress in fighting poverty by adopting national strategies. At home,
Quebec and Newfoundland have already devised their own poverty reduction
plans.
The need for a plan is obvious when at a time the
economy is booming in most parts of the country and many people are
buying $4,000 plasma televisions, almost one in six of our citizens live
in economic misery because they fall below everyone's definition of a
poverty line.
Most poor families lie between $3,300 and $9,000 below
Statistics Canada's low-income cut-offs, which the council uses as the
poverty line.
What's worse is that the hardest-hit group is families
with children where one or both parents are working. Indeed, despite a
long-standing myth, only a small percentage of people living in poverty
rely on welfare, including just 28 per cent of single mothers, although
half of those mothers are poor. Welfare rates are so low they "bear no
relationship to the actual cost of even subsistence living," the council
says.
Echoing the findings of a Toronto task force, the
report found that holding down full-time, full-year employment often
does not pay enough to pull people out of poverty. The average income
for poor working people in 2003 ranged from only $9,522 for a single
person to $16,333 for families.
That's because good jobs with benefits have been
replaced by part-time and contract work with few or no benefits. At the
same time, reforms to employment insurance mean it now covers only a
tiny fraction of workers while child benefits are so inadequate they
cannot possibly keep a family with only one worker out of poverty.
Income security policies such as welfare, employment insurance and
minimum wage were designed for that era of good jobs, not for today's
harsh realities of the modern job market.
The National Council on Welfare is just the latest
group to sound these alarms. Last month, the United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights once again criticized Ottawa for
failing to recognize social and economic rights as fundamental human
rights. It was especially disturbed by the lack of investment in social
programs.
And earlier this year, a task force co-chaired by
David Pecaut, head of the Toronto City Summit, urged Ottawa to reform
employment insurance, saying it covered so few workers it was almost a
joke. The group also proposed an independent body, not politicians,
recommend periodic minimum wage increases; a refundable tax credit for
low-income working-age adults; and a working income supplement for
low-income workers to ensure work is actually more financially rewarding
than welfare.
These are useful well-thought-out ideas. And there are
more like them that should be explored. By studying and implementing the
best of them, Canada can develop a truly realistic plan with national
goals to end the poverty morass that shames this country.
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