TAKING FLIGHT
Landing permanent, unionized, full-time job moves man to defend others trapped in precarious work
We introduced you to Angel Reyes in our Precariously Employed series. Now, he’s taking a stand for others like him,
First, it was the indignity of working for five years at the same company as a “temporary” employee.
Then, it was the grind of never receiving a raise or benefits, even after half a decade of service.
Finally, it was losing his job shortly after speaking to the Star about life as a “perma-temp” at a North York recycling firm. Now, 61-year-old Angel Reyes has found his wings. He’s got a permanent, unionized job. A new, subsidized apartment. And he’s fighting for the thousands of other workers in the city who are still stuck in temporary, precarious employment.
On Thursday, Reyes filed a $23,264 wrongful dismissal lawsuit against his former workplace, Canada Fibres, and the temp agency that placed him there. It’s a case that could set a new precedent for temporary workers’ rights.
What makes this lawsuit unique is that it seeks to hold the client company, as well as the temp agency, accountable for Reyes’ treatment, possibly setting a new legal precedent for who is held responsible for workplace abuse.
“My intention is justice,” Reyes said. “Not just for me. It’s for many, many workers in Ontario and Canada and the world who are living in circumstances like me.”
The lawsuit claims that Canada Fibres and United Staffing Services acted “in a harsh, vindictive, reprehensible or malicious manner” after allegedly terminating Reyes for speaking to the Star for a story about the plight of temporary workers.
According to the statement of claim, one week after a story was published, Reyes and six other employees at Canada Fibres were told there was no more work for them — but Reyes later learned that several of his colleagues were subsequently rehired at the plant. The suit alleges the recycling company singled him out because he spoke about his working conditions to the media.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Mark Badger, a spokesman for Canada Fibres, said it was “simply inappropriate to comment at this time.” Steve Kralik, president of United Staffing Services, said he was “shocked” at the claims. After Reyes lost his job at Canada Fibres, Kralik met with Reyes and placed him in a new temporary job.
“I never wanted to be in the way of a person trying to better themselves,” Kralik told the Star.
“I don’t think there was anything done deliberately or against him as an individual,” he added. “That’s why I met with him and said from this day forward we’ll take care of you. And we did.”
Canada Fibres and United Staffing have 20 days to file a statement of defence.
Reyes, who fled El Salvador in 1993 after he was kidnapped and imprisoned for lobbying for workers’ rights, said he originally wanted to speak to the Star to draw attention to the plight of temp employees in Ontario.
Critics say such workers are not adequately protected under the province’s outdated Employment Standards Act. Reyes’s lawsuit claims that despite working at Canada Fibres for five years as a temp, he was never offered a permanent job and was only ever paid minimum wage, currently $11 an hour — even though directly hired employees received $14 an hour plus benefits for doing the same work.
Ontario’s employment laws, currently under government review, place no time limits on how long a company can hire an employee through a temp agency. Temporary employees are also not entitled to receive equal pay for equal work, even when performing the same tasks as their permanent counterparts
Temp agencies are also the socalled “employer of record” for temp workers, though many temps have little day-to-day interaction with their agencies.
Labour groups such as the Workers Action Centre claim that companies often hire through agencies in order to deflect their responsibility for workers’ rights onto a third party.
“In today’s economy, with the rise of precarious work, we need to establish that the corporation who controls the employee’s work — they are the employer,” said Parkdale Community Legal Services lawyer John No, who is representing Reyes.
“Especially in a non-unionized setting, I am not aware of any other cases making that argument.”
Meanwhile, Reyes is basking in his new, hard-won luck. After working minimum-wage gigs for years, Reyes has a new $18-an-hour permanent job with construction union LIUNA Local183 — thanks to a generous Star reader touched by the refugee from El Salvador’s story.
In short, things are looking up for the man who used to rise at 3 a.m. to travel by bus from his west-end apartment to sort garbage in North York.
The father of three’s current assignment is restoration work at Toronto Western Hospital, just a stone’s throw from his new subsidized home in Chinatown.
“I have to appreciate many, many people,” Reyes says.
Curving his arms in an imaginary embrace, he added: “I would like to hug them like that.”