Demanding Better for ALL Workers

Please take the time send this email to Premier Doug Ford and the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, Monte McNaughton to demand better inspections and health and safety practices for ALL workers in Ontario!

The open letter is editable if you would like to add additional information, but we ask that you do not delete any of the existing letter.

Ministry of Labour is Failing Workers - We Need to DEMAND Better!

Dear Premier Ford and Minister McNaughton,

Never has Health and Safety been such a top of mind concern for workers across Ontario. COVID poses a very real threat to the lives and health of workers. Although much has been done to ensure worker safety, there is one area in which the Ministry of Labour is currently failing to protect workers: adequate workplace inspections.

As was reported in the Toronto Star on April 27th, and as has been attested to by workers here in Sudbury and across the province, the legal avenue for workers to protect themselves through work refusal of unsafe work, is failing workers. Inspectors are often not even examining the workplace to view and address workplace concerns. It is inconceivable that of the 200+ work refusals that have been laid, that not once has the Ministry of Labour found in favour of the workers. We know that workers are not being provided adequate PPE, are not being enabled to keep physically distant from each other, and that inadequate cleaning and screening measures are in place in many workplaces.

As we prepare to re-open the province, and more businesses return to work, more workers will face a serious risk of exposure to COVID. The health and safety of workers in Ontario must be held as the utmost priority.

We call on the Premier and the Ministry of Labour to ensure that all Workplace Refusals by workers in Ontario result in a workplace inspection. Inspections must occur, and real measures to ensure worker safety must be ordered.

We further call on the Premier and the Minister of Labour to dismantle the COVID-19 Advisory panel. This panel, which was established without fanfare or public input, is seen to be impeding the progress of inspections. The panel, by vetting all inspections and reports, puts a chill on the ability of inspectors to do their jobs in a fair and unbiased way.

We demand that you take real action and truly take the concerns of workers in Ontario seriously. Make health and safety a priority in these times. Ensure that real and adequate inspections are taking place and that the appropriate measures are being taken to ensure that compliance happens.

Respectfully,

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The Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre

Workers Helping Workers

Workers Helping Workers

Demanding Better for ALL Workers

Ministry of Labour is Failing Workers - We Need to DEMAND Better!

Ministry of Labour is Failing Workers - We Need to DEMAND Better!

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