Stop Wage Theft
Stop the $6 million cut to Employment Standards enforcement. Stop wage theft.
People need confidence that when they go to work they will be paid. However, every day we are seeing workers not getting paid their wages. Wage theft is at a crisis. We need strong enforcement. But the government wants to cut $6 million out of employment standards enforcement.
Take Action
- Email Premier Dalton McGuinty below.
- Call your MPP and ask them to make sure the government does not cut $6 million from Employment Standards Enforcement. Find out who your MPP is. Download the factsheet and sample phone script.
- Share this information with others in your community and urge them to take action.
What the Dalton McGuinty said:
The McGuinty government said in its poverty reduction strategy that, "employment standards in Ontario are not always followed as closely as they should be. This can result in workers losing money owed to them, such as overtime, vacation pay and termination pay. The result can mean hardship for workers and their families, with particularly serious consequences for those Ontarians already facing challenges."
What the McGuinty government promised in 2008:
As part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, we will invest an additional $10 million annually to hire new employment standards officers, improve Employment Standards Act compliance and reduce the backlog of claims.
~Ontario Government (2008) Breaking the Cycle: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy
STOP THE CUTS! STOP WAGE THEFT!
WHAT IS WAGE THEFT
Many of us are not earning enough to live on. We face unfair conditions at work every day. Too many employers don’t pay us what we should be paid by law. Why is this allowed to happen? We deserve decent wages and fairness at work!
Our wages are stolen when:
- We are not paid for all the hours that we work, or we are not paid at all
- We are not paid minimum wage, overtime pay or for other legal rights
- We are wrongly treated as independent contractors or self employed
- We are charged a fee to get a job
When employers steal our wages and break the law – this is wage theft!
Wage theft is unfair, affects our families and communities and keeps us in poverty!
HOW WE CAN STOP WAGE THEFT
We can stop wage theft when we work together. We have done it before! Many US states have passed Wage Theft laws. It can be done!!
TO STOP WAGE THEFT THE GOVERNMENT MUST:
- Make all employers follow the law in all workplaces
- Update labour laws to protect all workers
- Increase the minimum wage to bring workers out of poverty
- Ensure equal status and protection for all workers regardless of immigration status
For more detailed information on our demands to the Ontario government, refer to our policy document “Taking Action Against Wage Theft: Recommendations for Change”
WAC’s report exposes a reality of work where wages, overtime and vacation goes unpaid and people work at less than minimum wage. Based on a survey of 520 people in low-wage and precarious work, this study demonstrates that vital protection of core rights are failing people in precarious work. Read Report >>>
