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The labour movement will face many challenges in the coming years, and Unifor will be at the forefront of ensuring the rights of working people are not diminished, Unifor Ontario Regional Director Katha Fortier told the founding Ontario Regional Council meeting this morning.
“It’s our top priority, it has to be,” Fortier said. “A better Ontario is possible.”
Unifor represents workers across the Ontario economy, so is uniquely able to speak on behalf of all working people, Fortier said, and cannot be shy about speaking out on their behalf.
“Corporations have a political voice, a pretty loud one,” Fortier said.
Noting that Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak wants to get rid of the Rand Formula, which sets out that all workers in a unionized workplace pay dues even if they choose to not join the unions, Fortier said Unifor needs to be active in the next provincial election, expected in the coming year.
“If Hudak gets elected and gets rid of the Rand Formula, Ontario will never be the same,” Fortier said. “This is going to be the fight of our lives, sisters and brother, and Ontario will be ground zero.”
But it is not enough to simply protect existing rights, Fortier said, and Unifor is committed to improving the lives of all Canadians. As part of that effort, Fortier noted that one of Unifor’s first acts was to recommend that the Ontario minimum wage be raised to $14 an hour.
The current minimum wage of $10.50 an hour puts a worker at 20 per cent below the poverty line, and that’s just not good enough, Fortier said.
“A job should lift a person out of poverty,” Fortier said.
