“Working on the Edge”: exposing the realities of precarious work
On May 30, 2007, WAC released its research report “Working on the Edge” which 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 also 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.

Bill 161 to regulate the temp industry
Late in 2006 Liberal MPP Vic Dillon introduced Bill 161 to licence the temp industry. We recognize that this is a first attempt to try to address the systemic violation of labour rights that temp agency workers have been facing. However, Bill 161 needs comprehensive reform with many changes to tackle the widespread abuse that is happening in the industry. For WAC’s analysis of Bill 161, please read our editorial in The Toronto Star, December 18, 2006 Province must tighten Bill to protect Temps and the Review of Bill 161 prepared by WAC and Parkdale Community Legal Services in December 2006.

Human Rights & the Temp Industry
In 2006, the WAC Temp Workers’ Committee surveyed and interviewed temp workers to get their stories. From discriminatory questions in the application process, to racialized selection for assignments, to human rights violations experienced on the job, temporary workers have reported systemic human rights violations in the temp industry. Our report, Human Rights Violations in the Temp Industry: Recommendations for Action is part of our ongoing campaign to improve the rights of temp workers.

If so many parents are working, why are so many families poor?
This is the topic of conversation that we take on in an educational bulletin released March 2006 called "Working, Yet Poor in Ontario: A Call for Fair Wages and Working Conditions, and Government Action" The Workers' Action Centre has worked with two community organizations, Campaign 2000 and the Centre for Public Justice, to produce this bulletin to raise awareness on low wages, work and what really faces us on the job. Also included with the bulletin is a "Community Action Guide" with ideas about what action you can take in your community. Help spread the word, and join us in the fight to improve wages and working conditions!

MISWAA Report
The Workers' Action Centre has been participating in the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults (MISWAA) since it's formation in the Fall of 2004. We submitted a brief, "Effective and Enforced Employment Standards for Improved Income Security" in 2005 to the Task Force illustrating the need for a strong floor of basic standards and expanded protection for workers in unstable jobs in Ontario.