QUEEN’S PARK: “Ontario NDP Deputy Leader Jagmeet Singh presented a motion to protect Ontarians employed at temp agencies by ensuring equal pay for equal work and more stable jobs. The motion will be debated in the Ontario legislature Thursday afternoon”, read a statement by NDP.
“Ontarians placed by temp agencies are getting paid sometimes close to 50 per cent less to do the exact same job as the person sitting right next to them. That’s not fair and it’s not right,” said Singh, MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton. “Everybody deserves respect on the job and that means being paid fairly for a hard day’s work.
“If you’re a temporary worker, you should be getting the same pay and benefits as the person beside you doing the same job.”
Jagmeet Singh was joined at a Queen’s Park press conference by community groups and temp agency workers supporting his motion. They included Aidan MacDonald, Injured Workers’ Consultants Community Legal Clinic; Paulina Corpuz, Filipino Workers Network, and temp agency workers, Ramanpreet Kalkat, and Amrit Koonar.
Over 700,000 workers in Ontario are employed through temporary job agencies, leaving many families vulnerable to predatory practices that include the clawing back of salaries by up to 50 per cent. Roughly 22 per cent of jobs in the province are characterized as precarious, and racialized workers experience disproportionality higher rates of precarious and temporary employment.
MPP Singh’s motion calls on the government to ensure that workers employed through a temporary job agency receive the same wages, benefits and working conditions as their permanent, full-time counterparts. It also calls for reduced barriers to permanent employment for workers employed through temporary job agencies.
“The Wynne government has allowed hard-working people to be unfairly preyed upon, denying them the dignity of a fair wage for the work they do,” said Singh. “This motion is an important step in creating more good jobs in Ontario.”