To cheers from big business,
Ontario slashes minimum wage, guts labour standards
By
Keith Jones
31 October 2018
Three days after unveiling legislation that slashes the minimum wage and shreds labour standards, Ontario Conservative Premier Doug Ford was given a rousing reception Friday by business leaders attending an Ontario Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Ontario Economic Summit.
Ford, for his part, appealed to business for its steadfast support in “the fight ahead” against those opposed to his government’s class war program of draconian social spending cuts, privatization, deregulation, and the gutting of worker rights.
Tabled in the provincial legislature Tuesday, October 23, the Conservatives’ Making Ontario Open for Business Act or Bill 47:
#Rescinds a $1 an hour increase in the minimum wage slated for January 1 and freezes the minimum wage at the current $14 an hour rate for two years, until October 2020, when it will become subject to an annual “inflation adjustment”;
#Restores employers’ unfettered “right” to pay temporary, casual and part-time workers less than full-time staff;
#Abolishes financial penalties for employers cancelling shifts or on-call assignments at the last-minute, while making it easier for employers to fire workers who decline last-minute shifts;
#Replaces 10 days of Personal Emergency Leave, two of which must be paid, with 3 days of “sick leave,” 2 days of “family responsibility leave” and 2 days of “bereavement leave,” none of which is paid and all of which must be duly documented at the employer’s request;
#Reduces ratios between skilled tradespersons and apprentices across the board, so that in every trade employers will be legally entitled to hire one lower-paid apprentice for every fully-qualified worker (i.e….