A Year in Review

2020 was a year like no other. Our work transformed the political landscape, making the call for paid sick days heard louder than ever before.

This wouldn’t have been possible without you. 

The pandemic has clearly illustrated the link between health and decent work. As health workers, we rose to the challenge – not only of providing needed care, but also of advocating for the protections our patients need.

This year, thousands of people across the country signed our paid sick days petition and our base of supporters has tripled. We took part in 5 press conferences and have been interviewed by the media over 50 times this year alone. We launched an Instagram page, wrote op-eds, and have seen calls for paid sick days grow across social media. We held days of action, socially-distanced rallies, webinars, wrote letters and emails, and made thousands of phone calls to political targets.

August Day of Action for Paid Sick Days

We’ve seen our calls for paid sick days echoed – by public health officials, political leaders, and across different sectors.

In October, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Tam released a report calling for an equity approach to Canada’s COVID-19 response. The report explains how the long-term care crisis was fueled by precarious work and calls for paid sick days as “essential to protect worker and community health.” 

In Ontario, mayors of the 29 biggest cities released a statement calling for paid sick days legislation. Doctors in Ontario and Alberta and Canada’s nurses released statements calling for paid sick days.

In Nova Scotia, the provincial NDP renewed their call for paid sick days and in Ontario the provincial NDP introduced the Stay Home If You Are Sick Act, which would guarantee adequate paid sick days and an end to doctor’s notes.

We’ve seen calls for paid sick days from educators and parents as schools reopened, from migrant care workers facing dangerous outbreaks, warehouse workers at the centre of the pandemic, and from countless others, including the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Toronto Board of Health, the Ontario Nonprofit Network, the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and the Retail Action Network with the support of dozens of B.C. organizations.

This year, we also developed new resources that have emboldened our decent work demands. 

In August, we released a groundbreaking report on paid sick days that made the case for permanent, universal, and seamlessly accessible paid sick days in every jurisdiction across Canada. 

The report, Before It’s Too Late: How to Close the Paid Sick Days Gap During COVID-19 and Beyond, drew on worker interviews, physician surveys, and medical literature to make the case that paid sick days are both feasible and necessary. 

It also highlighted the inequality in workplace protections that leave racialized, disabled, low-income, and women workers disproportionately exposed.

We developed posters and flyers that you can print out and share in your communities, and a factsheet with major myths about paid sick days and how to bust them. You can find those outreach tools here.

With your support, this year has brought us closer to winning paid sick days than ever before. 

We look forward to organizing with you in 2021. 

- The Decent Work and Health Network team