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This report examines the impact of increasing Ontario's minimum wage to $14 per hour in 2018. Despite dire predictions that increasing minimum wage would eliminate jobs, employment actually increased in the period after the change. The study, funded by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), also found racialized workers, especially women, benefitted from the minmum wage increase, largely due to the gendered and racialized nature of low-wage work. Employment in almost all industries with lower-than-average wages increased.

Migrant labour has become indispensable in North America and Europe for the functioning of the agrifood sector. However, unfair labour mobility regimes and the structures of opaque agrifood supply chains thrust migrant farmworkers into an industry rife with inequitable employment conditions, limited regulatory protection measures, and suboptimal living conditions. Over the last 30 years, several certification initiatives have been introduced to engage governments, farmers, retailers, nongovernmental organizations, and consumers in providing new avenues for improving migrant labour conditions in the sector. Certification programs have become an effective strategy to tackle issues related to labour exploitation. In some cases, these programs have led to the creation of communities and workers’ coalitions, thus facilitating spaces for conversations surrounding policy changes and temporary-program restructuring to make conditions fairer to migrant, racialized, and indigenous workers. The purpose of this paper is to review some of these good practices and to identify the necessary conditions in an effort to develop an operational framework for a Fair Farm Work certification initiative in Canada. This Fair Farm Work initiative is focused on exploring the potential of coalitions and partnerships between employers, workers, distribution chains, and policy makers to develop a certification scheme that helps improve migrant workers’ employment conditions in Canada’s agrifood sector. Our analysis shows that the success of certifications relies on the incorporation of worker-driven models and the inclusion of elements such as third-party audits, rigorous standards, clear enforcement strategies, worker education, clear food-labelling strategies, and community engagement to raise awareness and render these efforts visible to consumers. While migrant workers’ participation is pivotal in implementing certifications, retailers’ participation is a powerful incentive to garner support from other stakeholders and to harness consumer power through Corporate Social Responsibility mandates and engagement campaigns.

The primary objective of this review is to identify and analyze potential markers of racism and discrimination in immigration policy that impact migrant workers in Canada, most specifically those in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Caregiver Streams that are part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The review also examines the International Mobility Program, albeit from a more limited perspective, due to a still nascent, yet fast-growing, literature on the subject.Footnote5 Overall, studies and reports mostly focus on substandard conditions of labour, lack of access, or restricted access, to social services and permanent residence pathways that are typically available to workers from higher-waged and higher-skilled categories. Indeed, most of the literature, including reports from non-profit organizations, and parliamentary committees refer to issues of “abuse and exploitation” in temporary migration programs, including in specific segments of the International Mobility Program. --Executive summary

Issue: Judicial rulings, continued decline in unionization, new types of work arrangements, employer efforts to boost retention and performance and new approaches to enforcement are shining the spotlight on the ability of workers to join together to express their views and have a say in decisions affecting their working conditions. To what extent are there gaps in opportunities for collective voice for non-unionized workers in the federally regulated private sector (FRPS)? How could they be addressed?

This report...examines the need for paid sick leave in Nova Scotia and what it should look like. Authored by a team of researchers at Acadia University, the report underlines that for paid sick leave to be effective, it must be universal, paid, adequate, permanent, accessible and employer-provided. It recommends that employers be legislated to provide 10 paid days per year to allow workers time to access preventative health services or to recover from common illnesses. Prior to the pandemic, only 46% of Nova Scotia workers had paid sick leave provided by their employers. A total of 69% of workers who earn $25,000 do not have access to paid sick leave. The data also shows that younger workers and those with high school education or less have the least access. Only 28% of those who work in seasonal, term or on-call jobs have access to paid sick leave. This report also reviews temporary sick leave policies from federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions in Canada to demonstrate how they must be improved.

In the summer of 2020 the Alberta government introduced Bill 32: Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act (2020). This 82-page omnibus bill proposed sweeping changes to a handful of employment-related and labour related legislation. Some of the most significant amendments were to Alberta Labour Relations Code, the law that regulates union-employer relations in the province. Almost a year after its introduction, many aspects of Bill 32 continue to be poorly understood for a number of reasons. This report examines Bill 32 with a focus on its broader implications for the rights of Albertans, the health of democratic debate in the province and potential economic consequences. Specifically, the report makes two arguments. First it argues Bill 32 undermines key charter of Rights and Freedoms protections not just for union members but potentially for a wide range of Albertans. Second, the report argues Bill 32 represents an Americanization of labour relations in the province, with significant negative consequences for inequality, economic growth and democratic participation.

This report looks at the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic security of women in Canada and the current efforts to respond to urgent economic need in the short- to medium-term, as well as demands for fundamental systemic change moving forward. ...The study focuses on three areas: it examines the impact of COVID-19 on women’s participation in the labour market since the pandemic struck in spring of 2020; it assesses the impact of federal and provincial government programs and income supports through a gendered and intersectional lens; and it examines gaps in the system and proposes measures to help women get through the COVID crisis and ensure their speedy return to the labour market once the worst of the crisis is over.

There is abundant evidence that when workers can provide input, express opinions, and influence change in their work places. Providing workers with regular, safe channels of “voice” at work increases their personal motivation and job satisfaction. It benefits their employer, too, through reduced turnover, enhanced productivity, and better information flows. And it contributes to improved economic and social outcomes—everything from stronger productivity growth, to less inequality, to improved health.... From summary and main findings

Since the mid-1950s, the Canadian government has increasingly relied on precarious and/or temporary migrant workers to meet a growing demand for care work. Restrictive immigration policies and programs that promise a pathway to permanent residency but place limitations on workers’ rights and freedoms have led to the creation of a highly vulnerable workforce that is subject to working in low-wage and undervalued sectors with few protections. This report argues that, in addition to immediate reforms to current caregiver pilot programs to help protect vulnerable migrant care workers, Canada should work toward granting permanent resident status to all migrants upon arrival. Granting migrants permanent resident status and equal access to available supports and services is key to ensuring basic human rights for all. The report ends with recommendations to achieve this goal.

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) lawyers provide legal advice and advocate for low-income individuals in the province of Ontario (1990), Canada, who would otherwise be unable to afford legal representation. As workers, LAO lawyers had limited ability to address workplace concerns with their employer, many of which negatively impacted their ability to advocate for their clients, or undermined their professional and ethical obligations. Lawyers as a job classification are excluded from the Ontario Labour Relations Act (OLRA), and are therefore unable to unionize using a defined legal process protected by legislation. Analyzing the example of a successful four-year long campaign led by LAO lawyers and the Society of United Professionals, IFPTE Local 160 (SUP) for voluntary union recognition, this case study examines organizing a union when labour legislation does not facilitate a unionization process; running a comprehensive organizing campaign for professional workers; framing issues to resonate with the public; and what motivates professional workers to unionize. --From introduction

This literature review presents an overview of the existing academic research on workers’ experiences of sexual harassment in order to better understand the factors influencing workers’ responses to these forms of harassment. We focus on the understudied intersection of precarious work and sexual harassment to address and investigate the higher rates of unwanted sexual attention reported by workers engaged in precarious work. --From Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the holes in our social safety net and the failures in our social infrastructure painfully obvious. A horrific example of these failures is the impact of the pandemic in long-term care (LTC) homes. This paper provides a cost estimate for adequately funded caregiving in Ontario long-term care homes, showing that it would cost about $1.8 billion to increase care levels and equalize wage rates across the sector in this fiscal year. This equates to just over 1% of overall provincial program spending in Ontario.

Migrant care worker organizations are releasing a report today documenting the experiences of hundreds of racialized migrant domestic workers during COVID-19. The report, “Behind Closed Doors: Exposing Migrant Care Worker Exploitation During COVID-19”, features shocking stories of abuse including working every day without a break, thousands of dollars in stolen wages, workers being trapped in employers’ homes for months, and being laid off and evicted. The report documents how these crises threaten workers’ ability to unite with their families and access permanent residency, and calls for full and permanent immigration status for all migrants as the only solution. --Press release 2020-10-28

The living wage was first calculated in Atlantic Canada in 2015 (Halifax). Antigonish was added in 2016 and Saint John, New Brunswick in 2018. Last year, we calculated the living wage rate for St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. This year we have added two more Nova Scotia communities: Bridgewater and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

This literature review provides insight into the current state of LGBTQI2S workplace inclusion in Canada and beyond. The current national and international contexts through which LGBTQI2S people navigate at work are examined, and an overview of the gaps in research specific to LGBTQI2S workplace inclusion in Canada is explored. In our research, policy, and community engaged work, Egale has witnessed a culture of change in LGBTQI2S workplace inclusion. However LGBTQI2S people in Canada continue to face discrimination and exclusion in the workforce, and there exists particular harm for transgender and gender non-conforming people. Sexuality and gender oppression intersect with experiences of racism for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour within LGBTQI2S populations in Canada. Persistent issues for LGBTQI2S people in the workplace make visible the failure of organizations to protect LGBTQI2S employees and the failure of Canada’s current workplace and human rights frameworks. --Website description

Economic losses due to COVID-19 have fallen heavily on women, and most dramatically on women living on low incomes who experience intersecting inequalities based on race, class, disability, education, migration, and immigration status. The pandemic crisis has revealed the fragility of response systems and the urgent need for structural rethinking and systemic change.

In 2001, CCPA-Manitoba published a report titled The Minimum Wage and a Tipping Wage: A Survey of People Who Work At or Near the Minimum Wage in Manitoba. Researchers gathered data from 70 workers making minimum wage. The report concluded that minimum wage was insufficient to provide workers with anything more than a ‘subsistence wage’ and did not reflect the cost of living. This current research represents an update of the 2001 study and concludes that little has changed for minimum wage workers in Manitoba. This project utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data to explore the challenges of working for, and living on, minimum wage. Forty-two workers in Winnipeg and Brandon were interviewed to gain a better understanding of their experiences, challenges, and hopes for the future.

Although Canada’s migrant labour program is seen by some as a model of best practices, rights shortfalls and exploitation of workers are well documented. Through migration policy, federal authorities determine who can hire migrant workers, and the conditions under which they are employed, through the provision of work permits. Despite its authority over work permits, the federal government has historically had little to do with the regulation of working conditions. In 2015, the federal government introduced a new regulatory enforcement system - unique internationally for its attempt to enforce migrants’ workplace rights through federal migration policy - under which employers must comply with contractual employment terms, uphold provincial workplace standards, and make efforts to maintain a workplace free of abuse. Drawing on enforcement data, and frontline law and policy documents, we critically assess the new enforcement system, concluding that it holds both promise and peril for migrant workers.

The living wage rate for Charlottetown, PEI is $19.30 per hour. This 2020 living wage is calculated to follow the principles and methodology laid out in the Canadian Living Wage Framework. The calculation for Charlottetown follows how the wage has been calculated in our Atlantic Canadian jurisdictions, including the most recent report with wages calculated for various communities in Nova Scotia, as well as Saint John in New Brunswick. In 2019, the living wage was calculated for St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This report presents an analysis of key findings from a survey completed by gym and fitness club workers in Ontario over several weeks in February and March 2019. The survey data, which is both quantitative and qualitative, offers important insights into gym and fitness club work, including levels of job satisfaction, opinions about fairness and respect at work, impressions of relationships between workers, clients, and supervisors, and views about how best to improve working conditions in the industry. -- From Summary