WORKING ON THE EDGE

This new report by the Workers’ Action Centre, released on May 30, 2007, documents workers’ experiences of precarious work, and features stories from those who live with the grim daily realities of working on the edge. The report is the work of a team of academics, researchers, staff from Parkdale Community Legal Services, and members of the Workers’ Action Centre.

What does it mean to work on the edge? In the report workers describe what it’s like to work in low-paid temporary agency and contract jobs where employers fail to meet minimum labour standards. For increasing numbers of workers, it means low pay, income instability, few employments benefits or protections against unpaid wages. It means that employment standards are not enforced, leaving workers to bear the cost of job loss when they are pushed out of work by substandard conditions or are fired while trying to enforce their rights. It means outdated labour laws that trap people in poverty and deny workers fair standards.

The report ends with an emphatic call for the Province to act. It proposes detailed and comprehensive policy recommendations, including reformed employer-practices, equality for all workers, amendments to the Employment Standards Act to cover temp agency workers, changes to minimum wage policy, and more effective enforcement of the Employment Standards Act.

Download a pdf version of Working on the Edge.