By Rawan Abdelbaki It has been just over two months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. It was only a few days after that when the Conservative government of Ontario passed Bill 186, Infectious Disease Emergencies amendment to the Employment Standards Act. Bill 186 was designed to offer job protections to those workers who Continue readingEven in a Global Pandemic, Workers in Ontario Still Don’t Have a Right to Paid Sick Leave
sick leave
In Nova Scotia, your boss can demand proof that you’re sick, even if it’s just a short term illness. Those requests make life miserable for workers and put stress on an already overburdened medical system. For many short-term sicknesses, a trip to the doctor is really not necessary. To recover from a common cold, for Continue readingGet rid of sick notes
By Bob Barnetson Last week, the so-called Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (CTF) released StatCan data about the number of days of illness and disability leave taken by public- and private-sector employees. The Alberta release shows Alberta public-sector workers taking an average of 8.5 sick days per year while private-sector employees take an average of 5.1 days. Continue readingCanadian Taxpayers Federation gets it wrong on public sector sick days
By Anne Rucchetto & Kate Hayman In the midst of a busy flu season, the smooth functioning of the healthcare system is critical to the protection of population health, especially vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women and children. At the beginning of 2017, there were a number of news reports detailing overcrowded emergency Continue readingThe case for paid sick days
By Doug Nesbitt It was an unfamiliar site at a Canadian Forces Base, but a dozen Commissionaires staged an info picket at the entrance to CFB Kingston and the Royal Military College on early Monday morning, August 31. The Commissionaires, with support of a couple PSAC Local 901 members and the local Kingston and Islands Continue readingCommissionaires picket CFB Kingston for sick leave