Minimum wage hike becomes official

Pay increase, paid sick days part of legislation affecting about 1.6 million Ontarians

A new bill that constitutes the most sweeping updates to the province’s workplace standards in two decades is now law.

The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act will hike the minimum wage to $15, provide at least two paid, jobprotected sick days for all workers, increase holiday entitlement and boost protections for temporary employment agency workers. It passed its third and final reading Wednesday, with Liberal and NDP MPPs voting in favour and Progressive Conservative lawmakers opposing.

The bill follows years of advocacy from workers’ rights groups who have long pointed to inadequate protections for Ontario’s growing body of precarious workers, as well as two years of research and public consultation conducted by two independent labour experts. In the GTA, around half of all workers face insecurity on the job, according to a study by United Way and McMaster University.

“It’s showing that when workers speak up and organize, it’s possible to have better working conditions,” said Navi Aujla, a former temp agency worker and an organizer for the Fight for $15 movement in Brampton, a group that lobbied for many of the changes in the new bill.

“Finally, our voices are starting to be heard.”

The wage hike will see the minimum hourly rates rise from $11.60 to $14 an hour in 2018, and $15 in 2019 — a boost for around 1.46 million lowwage Ontarians.

Bill 148 will mandate equal pay for temp and part-time workers who are doing the same job as full-time employees, and make it easier for temp agency workers and homecare and building services workers to join a union. All workers will now have access to 10 personal emergency leave days, including at least two paid sick days — extending coverage to some 1.6 million Ontarians who previously did not have the right to a single unpaid day off when ill.

Employees who are with a company for five years will be entitled to three weeks vacation. The legislation also provides new scheduling protections, including the right to three hours of pay if their shift is cancelled within 48 hours of start time, although the provisions fall short of demands from worker advocates for two weeks scheduling notice.

Crucially, the new measures also include ramped up enforcement, including 175 new inspectors, which will double the ministry’s capacity and enable it to investigate one in 10 workplaces across the province. As previously highlighted by the Star, poor compliance with ministry orders has left thousands of workers out-of-pocket, even when inspectors find they are owed money.

In total, it is estimated that workers have lost $28 million to poor enforcement.

The legislation has caused concern for some in the business community who have warned it will create job losses and increase the cost of consumer goods. Premier Kathleen Wynne, who missed Wednesday’s vote because she is en route to China on a trade mission, tweeted that “we did it.”

At Queen’s Park, Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said he was “very disappointed” the Progressive Conservatives did not vote with the Liberals and New Democrats to pass the legislation unanimously.

“The dignity and the respect that comes along with earning a paycheque is something I would have thought all three parties would have supported,” said Flynn, noting Tory Leader Patrick Brown skipped the vote.

Tory MPP John Yakabuski (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) warned minimum wage will be a campaign issue in the June 7, 2018 election.