Raise the Hammer

Without a guaranteed income for those who have to access social services, then those who struggle, will remain struggling. You can have mixed neighbourhoods and schools but if say there was a school trip or even pizza days, well those children who live in poverty cannot afford such luxuries and will be left out and this does cause a lot of stress and friction in the homes.

I just came back form a forum on Toronto and well, it is the life experiences of those who live in poverty that need to be heard. They are the ones that need to be part of the solution.

One area that Mr Cook did not focus in on is the rise of precarious, contract and part time work, where your getting your rights as a worker enforced is not always so easy. You can file a complaint but in most cases, you are terminated and those without the dollars to hire lawyers, are left with no recourse for justice. There is no legal aid for employment issues and the legal clinics do not address these issues as well.

I went for an interview last week and it was explained that it was contract, meaning you are self employed, however, under the federal tax law, Self Employed or an Employee there is criteria. You are not self employed if the employer sets the hours of work, supplies all the tools and direction. This loop hole that allows employers to get away with this needs to be closed and at a municipal level, our leaders should be pressuring both the feds and province to ensure these loop holes are closed and that when employees file complaints, that they are not the losers.

Even last year when the Human Rights Commission came to Hamilton, they said that they are getting many calls from workers who do not qualify under Human Rights, yet have no other options left. The desparation for workers is growing out there.

The only thing left is to organize workers to start fighting back, to educate them about their rights, to give them the tools so that they can fight back for justice.

One does have to look at the fact the under the Ontario Works Act 1997, then when you sign on the bottom line for welfare, you are signing away your rights under employment standards.

Comment edited by grassroots are the way forward on 2010-05-18 18:47:21