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Health and Safety for All Support the Demand for Paid Sick Leave for All WorkersAcross Canada, unions, workers, public health officials, medical associations and many other organizations and individuals are demanding urgent action to provide paid sick leave to all workers. As public health authorities warn of the continuing dangers of COVID-19 and the possibility of a third wave and call for vigilance to curb the spread, the need for paid sick leave has become even more urgent. The Decent Work and Health Network, a network of health providers based in Ontario who advocate for better health by addressing employment conditions, assesses that 58 per cent of workers in Canada -- and over 70 per cent of workers making less than $25,000 -- have no access whatsoever to paid sick days. It recommends that all provincial, territorial, and federal jurisdictions must update their employment standards to require employers to provide at least seven days of paid emergency leave on a permanent basis and require employers to provide an additional 14 days of paid emergency leave during public health emergencies.
The ruling elite demand compliance with public health orders by individual workers and even, in the case of outbreaks in workplaces, go so far as to blame the workers and threaten them with fines if their life circumstances -- overcrowded housing, holding two or more jobs to make ends meet, carpooling -- put them in danger, but take no responsibility for protecting society by ensuring that workers have the wherewithal to comply. While blaming the workers for, among other things, not staying home when they are sick, employers offer rewards for improved production, including bonuses for "perfect attendance." Government officials, including public health care officials, say the onus is on individuals to follow public health orders but do nothing to force employers to make that possible, nor provide the financial and social supports that workers need. The federal government introduced the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) in October 2020 when the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) ended. The benefit is available to workers who stay home with COVID-19 symptoms, but not unless they lose over 50 per cent of their work in a week. It pays $450 after taxes per week for up to four weeks, which is less than a full-time minimum-wage job does in most provinces. It doesn't provide immediate accessible paid sick leave. Workers have to apply for the benefit, like Employment Insurance, and can wait weeks to be paid. The CRSB also excludes some essential workers, such as migrant workers, who may not have the social insurance number required to access it. This is not a benefit that meets the needs of workers who depend on a regular paycheque to provide the day to day necessities of life and cannot afford to miss work if it results in an interruption of earnings. London West NDP MPP Peggy Sattler presented Bill 239, the Stay Home If You Are Sick Act, 2020 to the Ontario legislature on December 8 and on February 16 requested unanimous consent of the legislature for the bill, which was denied. The Bill was then debated at second reading in the legislature on February 25. Bill 239 would amend the Employment Standards Act to provide for seven days of paid leave and three days of unpaid leave in a calendar year as "personal emergency leave," replacing the current provisions dealing with sick leave, family responsibility leave and bereavement leave. It would amend the section of the Act which provides for unpaid leave related to declared emergencies and infectious diseases emergencies, making the first 14 days of leave in a calendar year paid leave. Members of the Provincial Parliament are scheduled to vote on Bill 239 on March 1. Supporters of the bill are asking everyone to call and send e-mails to Conservative MPPs and to the Premier and Cabinet Ministers to demand that the legislation be passed. Premier Doug Ford contemptuously dismissed the growing demand for legislative action to guarantee that workers can take time off when they are sick without loss of income by saying that it would be a "waste of tax-payers' money" and that it would duplicate the federal CRSB. He says that the federal CRSB is enough and that Ontario’s adoption of legislation mandating paid sick leave would be "double dipping" for taxpayers. The reality of life for workers who live paycheque to paycheque is of no concern to Premier Ford. Canada has a modern socialized economy in which the collective work of workers across all industries and the service sector produce everything. Sick leave without loss of income belongs to workers by right and governments have a social responsibility to guarantee that right through legislation and enforcement.
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There
have been and continue to be outbreaks in workplaces, including many
food processing plants, across
the country. Since the outset of the pandemic public health officials
have stressed the importance of workers not reporting to work if they
are sick, even with mild symptoms. Compliance with this directive is
extremely difficult for
workers in predominantly low paid non-union jobs, but impacts all
workers without paid sick leave and workers who may have used up their
sick leave and would receive no pay should they stay home with
COVID-19 symptoms.