Thursday June 8, 2006
Queens Park, ON – The IAMAW gave its support today to an Ontario NDP initiative to save and protect Ontario’s manufacturing jobs. “Ontario has lost 87,000 manufacturing jobs since June 2004 and the McGuinty government has done nothing about it,” said Dave Ritchie IAMAW Canadian General Vice President.
Ritchie joined leaders and workers from Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), United Steel Workers (USW) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) at a Queens Park news conference to announce the initiative. The four-part initiative was introduced as private members bills in the Ontario Legislature this afternoon. It calls for the creation of a Jobs Protection Commissioner with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness and effectiveness of Ontario’s economy while seeking to prevent workplace closures and their resulting job losses. It is patterned after a successful Job Protection Commissioner in British Columbia.
It also calls for enhanced severance pay under the Employment Standards Act. Severance pay would be payable after one or more years of employment instead of the current five years. There would also be increases to notification requirements in the case of mass terminations. The initiative also calls for the creation of the Ontario Labour Market Board, which would be responsible for re-training and adjustment programs flowing from a plant closure situation. The final Bill calls for the creation of a wage earner protection fund financed by employer premiums. This would ensure that workers receive compensation for unpaid wages, severance and vacation pay when their employer is bankrupt or insolvent.
Added Ritchie, “I thought this government was elected to represent the people of Ontario but I was wrong seeing as we haven’t seen any leadership on this issue. This can’t wait any longer. We need a job protection strategy in Ontario.”
