Government inaction on workplace protections undermining pandemic recovery and abandoning workers in sixth wave, according to health experts

TORONTO, April 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Ontario faces a sixth wave of COVID infections and restrictions are being lifted, workers in low-wage and precarious employment are still being abandoned without protections. A new report from the Decent Work and Health Network documents how government inaction on workplace protections, like decent wages and paid sick days, is undermining Ontario’s pandemic recovery.

“The evidence in this report clearly shows that the government’s failure to improve working conditions has widened existing health inequities,” says Dr. David Fisman, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. “The lack of paid sick days and precarious work have been major contributors to disease spread since the get-go. If people can’t stay home when they’re sick, and can’t speak up about unsafe work conditions for fear of job loss, that is just going to pour gasoline on the fire in terms of disease spread,” adds Dr. Fisman.

Workers are still relying on temporary and inadequate paid sick days through the Worker Income Protection Benefit. This scheme provides workers with just three days to stretch over 468 days, and is set to expire in July. Throughout the pandemic, health workers have been repeatedly calling for 10 permanent paid sick days, plus 14 additional days during public health outbreaks. Their calls have been consistently ignored by the provincial government.

Making matters worse, lack of just cause protection from wrongful dismissal and precarious immigration status undermines workers’ ability to access paid sick days. Evidence shows that racialized workers are more likely to report being punished or fired for taking sick leave. Several workers quoted in the report cite fear of reprisal or job loss for speaking up about unhealthy or unsafe conditions, or even for taking time off when they are sick. The situation is worse for migrants, particularly those on employer-restricted work permits for whom job loss also means homelessness, inability to work at another job, and deportation.

“We know when immigrant workers’ jobs are threatened, they are silenced because they need to be able to put food on the table,” says Birgit Umaigba, an ICU nurse in the Greater Toronto Area. “If we’re not allowed to talk about bad working conditions, then it not only compromises our own lives, but also the lives of the people we’re looking after. We need freedom to speak up at work because everyone’s lives are at stake when that doesn’t happen.”

Yesterday the Ministry of Labour announced that the cost of living adjustment that is required to take effect annually will bring the minimum wage to $15.50 on October 1, 2022. Debra Slater, who works as a personal support worker at a long-term care facility, says this not enough. “We’re not getting what we’re worth,” she says, “We spend our money to go to school to learn and train for this job. Employers and management make personal support workers feel like if we speak up, we will lose our jobs. And, many workers don’t have any other way of making a living. We need a minimum wage floor of at least $20 an hour.” Evidence also shows that with higher wages comes the health protection of nutritious food, safe housing, lower rates of illness, and better access to care.

The report released today entitled “Prescriptions for a healthy recovery: Decent work for all,” concludes with evidence-based recommendations to improve working conditions as an urgent matter of public health. This includes raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour; equal pay for equal work so that part-time, contract and temporary workers receive the same pay as their full-time coworkers; at least 10 permanent paid sick days; full and permanent immigration status for all; and – crucially –  just cause protection.

“If we ignore the lessons of the pandemic, we are doomed to repeat it – racialized, women and migrant workers are paying the price with their health and with their lives,” adds Umaigba.

The full report “Prescription for a healthy pandemic recovery: Decent work for all” is available here. A summary of the report is available here.

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact: Sarah Shahid, Organizer, Decent Work and Health Network at sarah@decentworkandhealth.org | 514-415-4666