NDP Employment Standards Critic Cheri DiNovo today unveiled a sweeping private members bill designed to bring the Ontario Employment Standards Act into the twenty-first century.

“There are many instances where Ontarians work as part-time, casual workers who never meet their actual employer. These triangular employment relationships have resulted in vast forms of discrimination, including unpaid wages, harassment and gross violations of employment rules,” said DiNovo, in outlining the need for the modernization of the province’s employment standards laws.

Her bill would ensure that all workers receive equal pay for equal work, regardless if they work full time or part-time and expand employment standards. The bill would also expand employment standards to cover the growing numbers of workers in non-traditional work. Finally, the bill would vastly increase the power and scope of employment standards officers.

According to Irene Harris, Secretary Treasurer at the Ontario Federation of labour, “The majority of workers who will benefit from this legislation are not our members; they are not afforded the protection of a trade union. However, the union movement believes that it is crucial that all workers basic rights at work are protected.”

According to John Cartwright, president of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council and Chair of the Good Jobs Coalition, “when we look at what really happens in the labour market, it is impossible to separate out traditional employment relationships from other forms of employment, such as employment disguised as independent contracting. Workers doing both kinds of work need to be protected by employment standards legislation.”

In introducing her amendments, DiNovo announced that she will be touring across Ontario to raise awareness of her bill and the need to significantly strengthen existing employment standards laws.