Statement from Ontario NDP Economic Development critic MPP Catherine Fife
WATERLOO - Ontario NDP Economic Development critic MPP Catherine Fife released the following statement on the final Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey of 2017:
“Today’s job numbers confirm what too many Ontarians already know: women are feeling the squeeze of stagnant wages.
In 2017, the median income for women in Ontario with full-time jobs dropped by $7.20 per week, heading in the wrong direction as life keeps getting more expensive for Ontarians.
Women continue to be let down by this Liberal government as families across Ontario are already trying to get by with fewer services, thanks to decades of Conservative and Liberal government cuts. Rising costs, cut services and shrinking take-home pay adds to up to life is getting harder for the average Ontario family under the Wynne Liberals – not easier.
Andrea Horwath and the NDP are committed to improving the working lives of Ontarians. The NDP has committed to change that would give workers more stability and better work-life balance, including three weeks of vacation, five paid sick or personal emergency leave days and ending exemptions that allow some workers to be paid less than minimum wage."
NDP commitments include:
- Three weeks paid vacation after the first year of employment, up from the current two
- Ending exemptions that allow some worker categories to be paid less than minimum wage
- Five paid days for illness or personal emergency, up from the current two
- 10 days paid leave for survivors of domestic violence to access medical care, find safe housing or participate in legal proceedings
- Making it harder for employers to label long-time workers “contractors” instead of employees
- Requiring temp workers to become permanent employees after 90 days of work
- Requiring employers of temp workers to bear the same responsibilities as employers of all workers when a worker is injured or killed on the job
- Protecting injured workers’ benefits from unfair clawbacks caused by deeming them eligible for jobs they never held