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Later this month, the Ontario government will table what is expected to be a stimulus budget designed to ward off the worst of the recession and provide a cushion for hard hit households.
The provincial government could achieve both of these goals by ensuring Ontarians who still have a job can earn a ticket out of the ranks of the working poor.
Strategic changes to the province's employment standards are important. That's because with the economy on the skids, much is at stake for the 37 per cent of Ontario workers with part-time, temporary or contract jobs that pay low wages and offer no benefits or job security.
This kind of precarious employment is a growing reality in the Ontario economy, which unfortunately opens the door to workers being taken advantage of by bad employers.
Take the case of Ramalingam. He worked in a Toronto restaurant for three months but all of his paycheques bounced. The impact on his life has been tragic. He lost his apartment when he did not get paid. He was forced to go on EI, then social assistance, creating a downward spiral of debt that makes it incredibly difficult for him to support his wife and children. Even though the Ministry of Labour has ordered the employer to pay up, Ramalingam is still waiting for his unpaid wages three years later.
Ramalingam's case is not an isolated one. Every day, many like him struggle with unpaid wages, forced overtime or public holidays without pay, and firings without termination pay as defined in existing law.
And the number of violations continues to rise in Ontario. Why?
There are 350,000 workplaces in Ontario, employing almost 6 million workers who rely on employment standards. There are fewer than 20 officers to go out to workplaces and enforce employment standards within this massive workforce. That means that there is less than a 1 per cent chance that an inspector will ever walk into an Ontario workplace to make sure an employer is following the law.
Essentially, the system is on auto pilot.
Employers risk getting caught only if a worker files a complaint against them. Few do, because workers can't afford to lose their job – even if it's a bad job.
The provincial government recognizes this is a problem. As part of its poverty reduction strategy, Ontario promised in December to invest $10 million annually to hire about 100 new employment standards officers.
But it appears that the government may already be backing away from that promise at the worst possible time. With the pressures of an economic downturn, many vulnerable workers will think twice about quitting a bad job, leaving them at the mercy of employers who may be inclined to break the rules to weather the storm.
Ontario must set a higher standard than that for those who are trying to get ahead.
A modest investment of $10 million in this month's budget will pay big dividends in the short and long term.
It will pay off for the government's poverty reduction strategy by ensuring that Ramalingam's story is not repeated so that workers can count on their wages. Staying on your feet is key in tough times. The road back to stability is not always easy, and is often costly to all of us.
It will pay off for economic stimulus by ensuring that claims for unpaid wages get into the hands of workers, and flowing into local economies, faster. It is estimated that scaling up workplace inspections in targeted, high-risk sectors will result in Ontario recovering up to $17.4 million in unpaid wages for workers.
It will pay off for the majority of employers, who will be able to count on a level playing field that ensures everyone has to follow the same rules, and that competitive advantage is not based on exploitation.
And it will pay off in safer, healthier workers who will place fewer burdens on our health system and on our social assistance rolls.
Now is not the time to walk away from a commitment to increase the enforcement of basic labour standards. In fact, now is the time to make good on a promise to bring fairness into the workplace and to ensure working Ontarians can have their rightful shot at opportunity.
Deena Ladd is the co-ordinator of the Workers' Action Centre, a worker-based organization committed to improving the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage and unstable employment.
