Paying people $1.15 an hour is simply wrong
It’s not real work there’s no real pay, argue Jennifer Ramsay and Keenan Wellar .
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge. “Both very busy, sir.” “Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
Charles Dickens
Scrooge can rejoice anew. A threatened shutdown of a paper-shredding plant in Ottawa ended with a declaration from federal minister Pierre Poilievre that “There is nothing more inspiring than people determined to work hard and contribute despite the obstacles life puts in their way.”
Actually there is something more inspiring — workers overcoming disadvantage and prejudice to get paid the legal minimum wage. The possible layoff of 50 workers caused an uproar, but did not lead to the unequivocal declaration that paying people $1.15 an hour is illegal. The fact that all of these workers share a common characteristic — having a disability — makes the illegal practice also discriminatory.
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre represented Terri-Lynn Garrie, who had “happily” been working for about a dollar an hour for 10 years labelling bottles. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered $25,000 compensation for the discrimination and $142,124 back pay for the discriminatory wages. The vice chair noted that in 1986, Ontario’s minister of labour announced the repeal of section 24 of the Employment Standards Act that allowed exemptions to the minimum wage for “handicapped” people. The vice chair went on to quote the minister: “It is the view of the government that this section, which has been in force since 1947, is arbitrary and unfair and may well violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Nearly 30 years later, the Employment Standards Act has a fuzzier way of exempting people with disabilities from being paid minimum wage. Training for “the benefit of the individual” that is “similar to that which is given in a vocational school” is exempt. Poppy-pinning, paper-shredding, bottle-labelling individuals are being “trained” for 10 years or more. What of their vocation?
We don’t know how many of these workshops, often set up with the best of intentions, are operating across Ontario. It’s not real work if it’s not real pay. And it’s not vocational training if it doesn’t lead to paid employment. We have to have an honest conversation about what these peculiar arrangements really say about how we rate and value members of our society. There is another way. LiveWorkPlay has successfully matched more than 50 employees who have intellectual disabilities with businesses in the Ottawa area. Many of these employees were deemed “unemployable” because a cookie-cutter approach does not work.
Turning “this is the wrong person” into “let’s find the right job” is the start of a process that involves on-the-job training, support and individualized plans. Jeremy Robin was one of the “unemployable” people who now works at a carpet cleaning business. “They said I couldn’t get a real job, but they forgot to tell my boss.” His boss? “We’re making money together. He’s a natural with customer service.”
Sheltered workshops in Ontario are going to close. They are closing in most provinces in Canada. Shall we wait until a tribunal or court orders each sheltered workshop to pay minimum wage or close down? Or should we fund true training programs that work with individuals to find the right job for the right person? The choice seems clear. It will take time, but the investment is worth it. The alternative is dreary decades of dehumanizing and unpaid labour.