TORONTO, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Monday, June 28, Educators, parents and community members who are part of the Justice for Workers campaign will be delivering report cards to Premier Doug Ford and over two dozen Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) who are part of the Ford government.
TORONTO - 8:00 am: Doug Ford’s constituency office
823 Albion Road, Etobicoke, M9V 1A3
OTTAWA - 8:00 am: Lisa MacLeod’s constituency office
250B Greenbank Road, Nepean, K2H 8X4
“This government has failed students, their families and educators,” says Tola Ajao, an educator based in Toronto. “Chronic underfunding means ventilation systems are failing to protect students, educators and other workers in the classroom. With the COVID variants being airborne and class sizes exceeding public health advice for indoor activities, this last year has been a colossal failure.”
“The government’s failure to protect workers in frontline jobs has also increased the risks of COVID transmission in the schools,” says Susan Rab, an Ottawa-based educator. “I’m especially concerned about the government’s failure to legislate permanent paid sick days and its decision to cancel the two paid sick days that had briefly been part of the Employment Standards Act.”
“When parents don’t have paid sick days, they can’t stay home with symptomatic children and they certainly can’t stay home to self-isolate whether it be COVID or the common flu,” Rab explained. “And there are all kinds of education workers from early childhood educators to supply teachers and from school bus drivers to custodians who don’t have paid sick days and who are forced to work despite symptoms.”
Hayssam Hulays is a Toronto-based educator who can see the impact in the classroom of the government’s decision to cancel the $15 minimum wage. “When kids’ parents are struggling to make ends meet in low wage, precarious jobs, they very often struggle with housing, with acquiring decent internet service and with providing the computer equipment that has been so essential for students over the past year,” says Hulays. “And I’ve seen students who work part-time -- even full-time -- while going to school, trying to help parents pay the bills.”
“It’s never been more clear to me that the Justice for Workers demands for decent work and wages, including paid sick days and health benefits, are a fundamental pillar of safe education and safe communities,” says Hulays.
For more information:
Toronto: Tola Ajao - cell: 416-788-8508
Hayssam Hulays - cell: 647-444-0982
Ottawa: Susan Rab - cell: 613-612-6353