This post will deal mainly with Ontario, though I would imagine similar situations are happening across the country.
In Ontario workers rights are being eroded at an alarming rate, most especially by the huge increase in Temporary Labour placement companies and their use by employers.
Temporary agencies, which require no licence to start up, are flourishing in Ontario where there are now 4,200 such businesses generating $6 billion a year in revenue. Yet Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, brought in 60 years ago to safeguard workers’ basic rights, makes no mention of them
Temporary Agencies often do not provide proper training, do not provide benefits, do not provide the usual workplace protections from firing, and routinely refuse to pay stat holidays.
Now, when employers are caught, the fines range from only $250 to $1,000. While the labour ministry found employers violated employees’ rights in 11,358 claims last year and that almost $37 million in unpaid wages and benefits was owed to those workers, only four companies and two directors were charged.
[stats for 2006]The Star [Read more…] about Workers Rights
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