Emergency protests planned against Ford’s freeze on wages, benefits

Local labour and anti-poverty groups say so much for Premier Doug Ford’s promises to stand up for the little guy and head a provincial government “for the people.”

“We knew as far back as the election, the hypocrisy coming out of Ford’s mouth when he said he was for the little people,” says Anthony Marco, president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council.

But Ford’s move on Tuesday to repeal the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act of the previous Liberal government, is still “a slap in the face,” Marco says.

The bill was introduced into the legislature Tuesday at 3 p.m., and the first reading vote has already passed.

The Ford government’s proposed labour law eliminates the minimum wage increase in January to $15 an hour and freezes it at $14 until 2020. It also eliminates the minimum two days of paid sick leave per year for any worker and rolls back other labour reforms introduced by the Liberals shortly before the spring election.

The rollback has been met with strong criticism from anti-poverty activists, union leaders and opposition parties.

Marco says even the Liberal legislation was hard won, after years of grassroots campaigns to raise the minimum wage to $14 an hour this year.

So the groups are ready to butt heads again.

Hamilton Fight for $15 and Fairness, as part of a provincial campaign, is hosting an emergency meeting on Monday night to decide on local actions to fight Ford’s repeal.

The actions will likely include targeting Conservative MPPs like Hamilton’s Donna Skelly with a letter-writing campaign, said Hamilton organizer Chloe Rockarts.

Other actions will likely be taken by the end of this week or early in the next, Rockarts added.

“Absolutely, we’ll be acting fast (because of ) the fact that they are trying to push this through without consultation,

and because of the millions of workers in the province who need (the reforms).”

“We are mobilizing the workers of Hamilton to come out to this meeting to join us and organize against the repeal . ... We are doing everything we possibly can.”

The provincial Fight for $15 campaign, in partnership with the Ontario Federation of Labour, plans to roll out 10 emergency actions across Ontario, including Hamilton.

“Ultimately, Ford is accountable to the people,” says Rockarts. “He didn’t run on a platform of cancelling the $15 wage increase.

“The fact is, 42 per cent of Conservative supporters also support the minimumwage increase.”

The elimination of the paid sick days, fair work scheduling and equal pay for equal work is disastrous for Ontario workers, she said.

The Hamilton labour council’s Marco believes if there is enough of a groundswell against Ford’s repeals, the premier’s mind can be changed — just like it was during the election campaign when Ford proposed to scrap the Greenbelt.

Protests started Wednesday with a quickly arranged rally at the Ministry of Labour offices on University Avenue in Toronto, with some Hamiltonians attending.

Sarah Letersky, spokesperson for Minister of Labour Jim Wilson, said the bill must still go through second reading, committee, third reading and debate, but she expects it will be passed in mid November.