Be election-ready. A provincial election issues guide

Transcription

1 CHANGE THAT WORKS Be election-ready A provincial election issues guide

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3 Table of Contents Investing in Health Care 1 Creating Jobs and Decent Working Conditions 2 Bolstering Retirement Security and Long-Term Care 3 Halting the Privatization of our Public Services 4 Eliminating Poverty 5 Establishing Affordable Housing 6 Standing Up for Child Care 7 Strengthening Public Education 7 Addressing Climate Change 8 Promoting Peace and Inclusion 9

4 Introduction This past year, workers across Ontario won improvements to our outdated labour and employment laws from the government, as well as a commitment to a $15 minimum wage. While we celebrate this victory, the upcoming provincial election on June 7, 2018 is an important opportunity to push for even greater improvements for all Ontarians. Ontario needs a government that will change things for the better. That s why the Ontario Federation of Labour is mobilizing unionized workers across the province to raise their voices and elect a government that will make changes that work for real people and build a more caring, equal, and prosperous Ontario. In this booklet, you will find information about what Ontario workers need. You can use it to talk to your friends, family, and coworkers. Together, we will win change that works for Ontario. Please note that this material is solely intended for members of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

5 Investing in Health Care Every Ontarian deserves access to high-quality and affordable health care, dental care, and pharma care when they need it. This means: Eliminating real dollar hospital cuts and increasing health care investment by at least five per cent to maintain existing services. Mandating a maximum safe bed occupancy rate of 85 per cent to improve patient experience and provide a safe buffer during surge periods. Providing everyone with access to dental care regardless of their age, where they work, and how much they earn. Providing everyone with access to prescription drugs regardless of their age, where they work, and how much they earn. Funding for hospitals in Ontario, on a per-capita-basis, is now the lowest in the country. i Since the start of 2015, more than 1,200 nursing positions have been eliminated. ii One in three workers in Ontario do not have workplace medical or dental benefits. iii More than 80 per cent of insecure jobs in Ontario do not receive any benefits including vision, dental, and prescription drug coverage. iv Will you and your party commit to significantly increasing health care funding? Will you and your party commit to dental care for everyone? Will you and your party commit to pharma care for everyone? 1

6 Creating Jobs and Decent Working Conditions Every worker deserves access to a safe job with decent working conditions. This means being: Protected under the law. Paid at least $15 per hour in Protected with stronger laws so employers cannot avoid equal pay for equal work obligations. Protected with stronger laws so employers cannot avoid scheduling rules. Provided at least two weeks notice of their work schedules. Provided at least three weeks of paid vacation. Entitled to seven paid days of Personal Emergency Leave. Given ten paid days, followed by job-protected leave (for survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence). Provided just cause protection after working for three months with the same employer (for non-unionized workers). Guaranteed a safe and healthy work environment. Every worker deserves easier access to joining and keeping a union. This means being: Able to access their constitutional right to join a union. Able to vote to join a union and have their vote count the first time (i.e., card-based certification). Able to receive greater access to workplace information. Able to automatically access first contract agreements in all cases. Protected against contract flipping in all sectors for all contracted services. Protected against replacement workers, who undermine the fight for decent work. Able to bargain together for multiple locations of the same franchise operations. 2

7 Ontario workers who are unionized enjoy better benefits, workplace conditions, and pay about $7 more per hour than non-unionized workers. v In 2017, more than 25 per cent of Ontario part-time workers said that they would choose full-time work if full-time work was available to them. vi In 2017, nearly 400,000 Ontario workers held multiple jobs. vii Will you and your party commit to at the very least maintaining the recent changes to employment and labour laws, including the upcoming increase to minimum wage? Will you and your party commit to greater workplace protections for non-unionized workers? Will you and your party commit to making it easier to join a union? Bolstering Retirement Security and Long-Term Care Every Ontarian deserves to retire and live their golden years with dignity. This means: Strengthening benefit security for existing pension plan members. Expanding coverage to the millions of Ontarians without any employer pension plan. Ensuring pension plan members have a voice when any significant change is made to pension plan funding. Increasing the payment provided by the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund 1 to $3000 per month to keep up with inflation. Legislating at least four hours of hands-on care per resident per day in long-term care facilities. 1 The Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund protects pension benefits if an employer goes bankrupt and the defined benefit pension plan is underfunded. 3

8 More than half of workers in full-time, secure work have a workplace pension plan compared to approximately 15 per cent of those in insecure work. viii In Ontario, 14.4 per cent of seniors live in poverty above the national average. ix Ontario s standard of care for long-term residents places it last in the country. x Will you and your party commit to increasing the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund to protect pensioners? Will you and your party commit to making a law that sets a standard of at least four hours of daily hands-on care for long-term care residents? Halting the Privatization of our Public Services Every Ontarian deserves access to high-quality public services that are delivered by the government, for the people of this province. This means: Stopping the privatization of public services and assets, including Hydro One, Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG), the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) as well as Ontario s health care, education, and infrastructure systems. Increasing funding to public services and programs, such as pharma care, dental care, child care, housing, post-secondary education, social and community services, and public pensions. 4 Public services are the great equalizer of society, ensuring equal access to essential programs, such as education and health care, for everyone. The sale of Hydro One will lead to at least $500 million per year in lost income for the province giving away half a billion dollars that could have been invested in schools and hospitals each year. xi Over the next 20 years, Ontario household electricity prices are expected to increase more than 50 per cent. xii

9 Will you and your party commit to reversing the decision to privatize Hydro One? Will you and your party commit to ensuring that public services and assets are 100% owned by the public? Eliminating Poverty Every Ontarian deserves a decent and dignified life. This means: Increasing social assistance rates to above the poverty line. Expanding access to social assistance for all persons regardless of their immigration status. Stopping cuts to benefits and supports as well as reinstating the Community Start-Up and Maintenance benefit. Providing supports with dignity. Establishing and strengthening access to various universal public services and social programs, including pharma care, dental care, child care, housing, post-secondary education, social and community services, and public pensions. Ontario is home to the child poverty capital of the country, with more than 25 per cent of Toronto children living below the poverty line. xiii People receiving benefits from Ontario s social assistance programs are living in a greater depth of poverty now than a generation ago. xiv Ontario has the highest levels of income inequality in the country with the divide between the highest- and lowest-earning families growing wider and wider. xv Will you and your party commit to increasing social assistance rates to ensure recipients are not living in poverty? Will you and your party commit to creating universal public programs, such as child care and pharma care? 5

10 Establishing Affordable Housing Every Ontarian deserves access to safe and affordable housing. This means: A comprehensive provincial social housing program that treats housing as a public utility and delivers it according to need. A plan to build new, publicly owned social housing and to retrofit existing units. Regular, frequent, and thorough building inspections for rental housing, and enforcement of penalties for landlords who fail to comply. A ban on evictions and on cutting off utilities when workers are involuntarily unemployed (e.g., on strike, locked out, laid off). Real rent controls and roll-backs for all renters. In Ontario, there are more households on waiting lists for social housing than there are actually living in social housing. xvi Each year, only five per cent of people on the waitlists get a spot. xvii There are 285,000 affordable housing units with only 20,000 units built in the last two decades. xviii Will you and your party commit to introducing a provincial social housing program? Will you and your party commit to building new, publicly owned social housing units? 6

11 Standing Up for Child Care Every child deserves access to a universal, publicly funded, high-quality, fully inclusive, and affordable child care system. This means: Greater public investment to provide and build non-profit, affordable child care spaces. Child care spaces that are affordable and part of a system that is simple to navigate. Professional-level wages for all child care workers. An end to licensing new for-profit child care centres. Ontario continues to be home to the most expensive child care in the country, across all age groups, with some parents paying more than $1200 per month. xix For every public dollar invested in child care, the Ontario economy gains nearly $2.50 due to increases in working hours and wages of women. xx Will you and your party commit to delivering universal and publicly funded child care? Will you and your party commit to additional funding to make child care more affordable? Strengthening Public Education Every Ontarian deserves access to high-quality and fully inclusive public education. This means: Greater support (e.g., school-based mental health, speech, and language services) for all students. Funding formulas that respond to all students needs. Eliminating tuition fees for all post-secondary students and removing interest on existing student loans. Greater, stable, and dedicated funding for all universities. 7

12 One in five youth under the age of 19 has a mental health issue. xxi Ontario university students pay the highest tuition fees in Canada. xxii Ontario ranks last among Canadian provinces in per-student funding for universities. xxiii Will you and your party commit to eliminating tuition fees for all postsecondary students? Will you and your party commit to removing interest on existing student loans? Addressing Climate Change Every Ontarian deserves to live on a healthy and sustainable planet. This means: Delivering carbon reduction programs that also produce social and economic community benefits. Introducing effective just transition policies for affected workers and communities. Launching a green economic development strategy that leverages the potential for significant job growth in the future. Ontario has the second highest greenhouse gas emissions in the country. xxiv Environmental racism is real: racialized people live in closer proximity to environmental burdens, such as polluting industries and waste disposal sites, than non-racialized people. 8 Will you and your party commit to immediately tackling climate change with fairness? Will you and your party commit to helping spur community investment in the creation of good green jobs?

13 Promoting Peace and Inclusion Every Ontarian deserves to feel accepted and respected. This means: Eliminating in its entirety the discriminatory practice of carding. Addressing hate and neutralizing the impacts of xenophobia, white supremacy, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, anti-black and anti- Indigenous racism, and racism in all its forms. Declaring Ontario a sanctuary for those workers and families deported and treated negatively by policies of exclusion. Black and Indigenous peoples are more likely to be stopped and searched by police than other racialized groups and non-racialized people. xxv Recently, Canada has seen the murder of six worshippers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, the vandalism of mosques and synagogues in Toronto and Montréal, the disruption of First Nations events in Halifax by a supremacist group, and fascists groups hosting anti-islamic rallies in London. Will you and your party commit to banning carding in its entirety? Will you and your party commit to introducing a comprehensive plan that works with all levels of government and communities to address the rise in hate? 9

14 Endnotes i ii Ontario Hospital Association. Funding for Hospitals Ontario Nurses Association. Workforce. iii Steve Barnes. Low Wages, No Benefits: Expanding Access to Health Benefits for Low Income Ontarians. Wellesley Institute. iv Ibid. v Canadian Labour Congress. Why Unions? vi Statistics Canada. CANSIM Table vii Statistics Canada. CANSIM Table viii Mitchell and Murray. Changing Workplaces Review: Special Advisors Interim Report. p. 37 ix x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi xvii Statistics Canada. Focus on Geography Series, 2016 Census. Catalogue no X CUPE Ontario. Long-term Care Financial Accountability Office. An Assessment of the Financial Impact of the Partial Sale of Hydro One Ontario Energy Board. Electricity Rates Toronto Foundation. Toronto Vital Signs Kaylie Tiessen. Ontario s Social Assistance Poverty Gap. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Conference Board of Canada. How Canada Performs: Society Report Card Office of the Auditor General of Ontario Annual Report. Ibid. xviii Ibid. xix David Macdonald and Martha Friendly. Time Out: Child Care Fees in Canada Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. xx Robert Fairholm and Jerome Davis. Early Learning and Care Impact Analysis. Centre for Spatial Economics. xxi Children s Mental Health Ontario. Prevalence of Mental Health Issues. xxii Canadian Federation of Students. Tuition Fees and Access to Education. xxiii Council of Ontario Universities. How Much Government Funding do Ontario Universities Receive Compared to Universities in Other Parts of Canada? xxiv Environment and Climate Change Canada. National Inventory Report : Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada. xxv Ontario Humans Rights Commission. Traffic Stops. 10

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16 Be election-ready A provincial election issues guide April 2018 Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers. It is Canada s largest provincial labour federation. 15 Gervais Drive, Suite 202, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8 EW:CFU