Health workers support #Justice4Workers!

We forced the government to act on paid sick days. But, the newly announced Worker Income Protection Benefit (WIPB) is far from the "best paid sick days plan in North America" that we were promised. Our patients and communities still need paid sick days that are permanent, fully paid, accessible, employer-provided, and adequate. We also know that workers are facing precarious and unsafe work that affective their individual health and our collective public health. It has never been more clear that low-wage, precarious work is a health hazard. Decent work for all is the urgent and overdue treatment plan our patients need.

Health workers, show your support for #Justice4Workers by taking these actions:

1. Post the overdue treatment plan for Ontario workers on social media. As health workers, we know that work is a key social determinant of health. That is why paid sick days, a $20 minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, protections for temp agency workers, ending workplace racism & decent work are all part of our overdue treatment plan for Ontario workers. Join us to make a powerful health worker contribution to the #Justice4Workers campaign launch:

• Download and print a copy of the overdue treatment plan to save lives here.
• Fill it in with the decent work priority (scroll down for list below) that is most important to you, your patients, or your community.
• Take a photo with it and post it on social media!

Check out these examples from Nurse Stephanie, Dr. Jesse and Speech-language pathologist Yasmin:

Use the hashtags #Justice4Workers and #PaidSickDaysSaveLives. Tag us and follow along on Twitter (@DecentWorkHlth), @Instagram (@DecentWorkandHealth) or on Facebook (@DecentWorkandHealthNetwork). 

You can also share our content of the overdue treatment plan for Ontario workers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

2. Deliver the overdue treatment plan for Ontario workers to your MPP. To go a step further, we can take our online campaign to our own MPPs. Print the poster and put it up at your MPPs office. Or, put it up in your neighbourhood. Take a photo and share it on social media.

Decent work is urgent and overdue

Whether it is workers in part-time employment trying to string together multiple jobs in order to make ends meet and accidentally contracting or spreading COVID-19; or workers without paid sick days who can’t stay home from work at the first sign of symptoms because they can’t afford to lose pay; or temp agency workers being sent from one job site to another; or parents sending sick kids to school because they cannot afford to lose a day’s pay to stay home with them – decent work for all must be central in curbing COVID-19 now and recovering from it.

It is racialized workers, migrant workers, women workers and workers with disabilities that are most likely to be in low-wage, precarious jobs. Their communities have faced the highest rates of COVID-19 and have been left behind in our governments' pandemic response. Yet, these same workers keep our communities running – from farmworkers to grocery store workers, from cleaners to personal support workers, and from truck drivers to construction workers. The time is now to challenge these deep systemic inequities and support decent work for all!

Decent work for all means:

• Decent wages – $20 minimum wage for all!
• 10 paid sick days permanently, and 14 more days during health outbreaks
• Equal pay for equal work for part-time, casual, and temp agency workers
• Stronger enforcement strategies to make employers follow the law
• An end to racism, discrimination, and workplace bullying
• Full, permanent immigration Status for All – and more!

Read the full Justice for Workers, Decent Work for All platform at justice4workers.org.

Sign up to learn more about how health workers can support #JusticeForWorkers and Decent Work for All: