Better jobs a must

By JOHN CARTWRIGHT

A million workers in the Toronto region are earning less than $29,800 per year and many are struggling to stay afloat. We need to ask ourselves where people of colour find themselves in that equation.

The dynamics of Toronto's workers of colour are clear when one looks at Statistics Canada figures for 2001. Workers of colour make up 35 per cent of the labour force in Toronto, yet only 14 per cent hold senior management positions. They have above average representation -anywhere from 39 to 49 per cent-in occupations including computer programmers and IT professionals, software engineers, natural and applied science engineering and family physicians.

Yet, at the other end of the scale, there is real cause for concern in various low-paying sectors. People of colour comprise over 50 per cent of chefs and cooks. They make up 60 per cent of labourers in the manufacturing sector. And they are overwhelmingly on the front lines of health care, comprising over 66 per cent of nursing aides and orderlies. The need to improve wages, benefits and working conditions in these sectors is paramount.

For over 130 years, Toronto's Labour Day parade has been a day to honour 'those who labour' and to raise our voices to create fair and just working conditions. In the first parade of 1872, Toronto workers marched to demand a nine hour rather than 12 hour working day.

This year, new Canadian workers in Toronto's manufacturing and service sectors will march to bring attention to the need for better workplace protection. They are non-union workers from the Chinese, Korean, Filipino and African Canadian communities who are part of the Community Network for Workers' Rights.

Many of these people have worked in sweatshop conditions in manufacturing and service sectors in Toronto. Others have been deprived of overtime pay or terminated from their jobs without cause and provided with no severance pay. Their unscrupulous bosses continue to violate Ontario labour laws. These workers are not adequately protected by Ontario's labour laws or employment standards.

The Labour Council welcomes their voices. On Labour Day, they will join over 25,000 union marchers representing the full diversity of Toronto's communities.

It was unions that put a stop to the 'sweatshops' of the past. We are committed to working with every community to put a stop to the workplace abuses occurring today. Premier McGuinty promised to restore fair labour laws that were weakened by the previous Mike Harris government. These changes have deprived thousands of workers of the ability to attain decent wages and benefits. And they have prevented thousands from forming or joining a union.

For more than a century, every generation of newcomers has found that building strong unions has been key to raising the standard of living for their families and their communities. That is true for the Irish who came to dig canals in the 19th century; for Jewish garment workers in the 1920s; and for Italian construction workers in the 1960s. Today unionized workers across Canada receive an average of $5 an hour more than those doing the equivalent job without a union.

This past June, the Labour Council launched a campaign to improve working standards, wages and benefits for one million workers in the Toronto region earning less than $29,800. They work in key sectors of the economy, including health care, food service, manufacturing, childcare and social work, yet their work is undervalued and underpaid.

We have called on the Ontario government to restore fairness to our labour laws. We have pressed the federal government to restore Employment Insurance, because today, only 25 per cent of jobless in Toronto are eligible for benefits. And we have called on employers and all levels of government to stop outsourcing work to low-wage contractors. When good jobs disappear, we all lose.

In the coming year, Labour Council will ask faith groups, community organizations, ethnic associations and others to join us in calling for action from governments and employers. Restoring fair labour laws, rewarding work and ending privatization and outsourcing will help ensure that Toronto workers, many of whom are people of colour, have the tools and the opportunity to access fair wages and benefits.

It will take hard work and determination to bring about these changes. But if we are to have a truly just society, we must all be part of the solution. The income gap in our society is widening every year, and far too many people, particularly newcomers, are being left out of the prosperity we should all share. We can, and must, take action.

John Cartwright is the President of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council