As of October 1, Ontario’s minimum wage for adults will go up from $15.50 to $16.55 per hour. The subminimum wage for students under 18 will also increase from $14.60 to $15.60. This 6.8% adjustment is happening because workers fought long and hard to finally win legislation in 2014 that ensures the minimum wage keeps up with the cost of living each year.
The annual adjustment will make a big difference for the nearly 1 million workers, mostly women, who earn less than $16.55 an hour. “It’s very hard to survive on the minimum wage because groceries, rent, utilities – everything goes up,” said one Workers’ Action Centre member who earns minimum wage as a restaurant worker. “I need to choose very basic food for my kids, not extra nutritional food. $15.50 is not enough to live on with a family of five. Compared to my hard work, my earnings are not enough.”
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Especially in this affordability crisis, the yearly minimum wage adjustment is a crucial victory for workers that puts upward pressure on wages and keeps the lowest paid from experiencing real wage cuts due to inflation. Because of our work, the Employment Standards Act sets out a formula for how the increase is calculated based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the previous two years. By April 1 every year, the premier must announce what the new minimum wage rates will be on October 1.
But workers still need a $20 minimum wage for all, no exceptions. In fact, if Premier Ford had not canceled both the increase to $15 that was set for January 2019 and the cost of living adjustments for two years, we’d be much closer with a $17.95 minimum wage this year. Join the movement and let’s win what workers need and deserve!
Our decent work movement has also won a federal minimum wage that goes up each year on April 1st by the cost of living. This year, the minimum wage for workers under the Canada Labour Code will go up from $15.55 to $16.65 per hour to keep up with the national inflation rate. Across the country, about 26,000 workers in federally regulated industries such as trucking, airlines, railways, postal services, telecommunications and banks will benefit.
Paid Sick Days Expire March 31, 2023
Ontario’s Worker Income Protection Benefit (WIPB) expires today, March 31, 2023. Though there is near total support for permanent paid sick days, the Ford government still refuses to implement them. Tell the Premier to bring in 10 permanent paid sick days!
Though it was far from “the best paid sick leave program in North America” as Premier Ford claimed it would be, the WIPB was an important win that helped 11% of workers – about half a million people. It allowed employees sick with COVID-19, getting the vaccine, self-isolating, or caring for relatives with the virus to take up to 3 days off work and be compensated up to $200 per sick day.
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If you are eligible and have requested a paid sick day for COVID-19 reasons by March 31, your employer must offer you paid time off and apply for reimbursement through the WIPB program within 120 days of the day you were sick. If you do not get the sick pay you requested, please call our Workers’ Rights Phone Line at 416-531-0778 for support.
Though the WIPB was an inadequate program that funneled public tax dollars to private corporations, it was better than no paid sick days at all. But that’s exactly what the majority of low-income workers have been left with. Despite his tears back in April 2021, it seems Premier Ford has not learned one of the most important lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic: We need at least 10 permanent paid sick days for all workers, plus an additional 14 during public health emergencies. Please email the Premier to demand this basic protection.
When we come together and fight for change, workers win! Don’t stop demanding paid sick days, decent wages and Justice for Workers.