We want to change the laws to ensure every worker has decent work and wages as well as respect and dignity on the job. Hundreds of workers in low-wage, part-time and precarious employment have identified the following 10 essential priorities for a decent work agenda that - if implemented - would better protect all of us. We hope you’ll join the movement.

We are fighting for: 

An end to racism, discrimination and workplace bullying 

• Eliminate all forms of racism and discrimination 
• Legislate effective and enforceable protection from workplace harassment and bullying 
• Fund and support more effective and accessible human rights complaints processes

Paid sick days

Legislate:

• at least 10 employer-paid emergency leave days per year
• plus an 14 additional paid days during public health outbreaks

Prevent employers from asking for doctors’ notes to access paid sick days

Decent wages 

Legislate a $20 minimum wage for all 

Protect and extend legislated annual wage adjustments so our wages keep up with rising prices

End sub-minimum wage rates and remove all exemptions to the general minimum wage for students, liquor servers, farmworkers and others

Decent hours 

Make employers:

• provide a guaranteed minimum number of hours of work each week 
• offer additional hours to existing workers before hiring new employees
• provide work schedules two weeks in advance

Equal pay for equal work

Legislate equal pay and benefits for equal work regardless of our status as part-time, contract or temporary workers 

Ensure equal pay and benefits regardless of gender, racialization and immigration status 

Make employers provide pay transparency in our workplaces so we can enforce equal pay and help fight racism and sexism

Laws that protect all of us

Ensure migrant and undocumented workers can assert labour rights

Protect us from unjust firing (wrongful dismissal)

Expand the Employment Standards Act to include all workers, close loopholes and end exemptions to the law

Stop misclassifying gig workers (like Uber drivers) as independent contractors 

Make companies fully responsible for wages, working conditions and collective bargaining, when they use temp agencies, franchises and/or subcontractors

Protect us from losing our wages, benefits and union coverage when a business is sold or when a new service provider gets the contract (stop contract flipping)

Real protections for temp agency workers

Make companies financially responsible under WSIB for the death and injuries of temp agency workers

Ensure all temp agency workers earn the same wages as directly-hired workers when we do the same work 

Ensure:

• all temp agency workers are hired directly by the client company after three months on assignment and  
• to protect temp agency workers from being fired before the deadline to be hired directly, the law must require employers to provide just cause (a good reason) for terminating the assignment if they bring in another temp agency worker to do the job. 

Make it easier to join unions 

We must have the right to join unions by signing cards

We must be able to:

• form unions across franchises and subcontractors
• bargain across regions or sectors of work (broader-based bargaining)

Make employers follow the law

Government must implement:

• more surprise inspections of workplaces
• bigger fines when employers break the law
• meaningful compensation for workers when employers violate our rights
• job protection for workers who stand up for our rights at work

Status for all 

We all need full status under the law to assert our rights 

That means:

• permanent residency status upon arrival for all new migrants, and
• permanent residency status for all migrant and undocumented workers already here