October 2, 2016
April 14, 2016
WWEC, Windsor District Labour Council and making Waves Windsor Essex info booth in $15 and Fairness
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Windsor/Essex wants big changes to employment and labour laws: Ontario communities join April 15 Day of Action for $15 and Fairness Windsor, On. April 13, 2016 – On Friday, April 15 labour and community organizations across Ontario are uniting to call for decent work. These actions are taking place in advance of the first report of the province’s Changing Workplaces Review. For over a year, two advisors appointed by the Ministry of Labour have…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
April 13, 2016
$15 an hour minimum wage
THE CAMPAIGN POINTS: $15/Hr Minimum Wage: Ontario workers are struggling to get by. More and more decent jobs are being replaced by low-wage work. We need a minimum wage that brings workers above the poverty line. The minimum wage was frozen at $10.25 an hour for four years. Thanks to more than a year of organizing across the province by the Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage, the government was forced to increase the minimum wage to $11 an hour…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
January 25, 2016
Justicia for Migrant Workers kicks off Harvesting Freedom campaign
HARVESTING FREEDOM CAMPAIGN 50 years of Farmworker Resistance MEDIA RELEASE: “The year 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the migrant farmworker program in Canada. Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) will be marking this year with the Harvesting Freedom Campaign, a call on the Canadian government to finally allow migrant farm workers in Canada to access Permanent Immigration Status. The Campaign starts in January of the 50th year of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers program and will include a Pilgrimage from Leamington…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
October 13, 2015
October 13: What’s up at WWEC
Over the last few weeks WWEC has been hosting a Forms Clinic staffed by St Clair College students who are accompanied by a working Para Legal. This has caused increased traffic into the centre and that’s a good thing! As well, we’re seeing an increase in the number of workers coming in for help from WWEC. For example, workers seeking advice on how to approach their board of director employer regarding an abusive supervisor, a worker injured in a vegetable…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
September 29, 2015
Ontario Minimum Wage Increases October 1st 2015
Minimum Wage Rate Wage Rates Prior to June 1, 2014 Current Rates June 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015 Rates that will apply as of October 1, 2015 General Minimum Wage $10.25 per hour $11.00 per hour $11.25 per hour Student Minimum Wage $9.60 per hour $10.30 per hour $10.55 per hour Liquor Servers Minimum Wage $8.90 per hour $9.55 per hour $9.80 per hour Hunting and Fishing Guides Minimum Wage $51.25$102.50 $55.00 Rate for working less than five consecutive…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
May 13, 2015
CLOSE THE EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS GAP RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Have you ever faced a problem at work? At your workplace, were you not paid wages, overtime pay, or vacation pay? Did you have problems with your hours, breaks, or scheduling? Were you laid off without any notice or termination pay? If you faced any of these or other problems in your workplace, your employment standards were violated. If you filed a claim with the Ministry of Labour regarding these problems, we would like to hear from you. We are…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
May 5, 2015
Recent Ministry of Labour enforcement blitz finds 83% of workplaces in violation of the ESA!
The provincial vulnerable and temporary foreign workers blitz ran from September 1 to November 30, 2014, and was the fifth province-wide employment standards blitz conducted by the Ministry of Labour. The ministry considers vulnerable workers to be those who work in sectors where they may be at greater risk of having their rights violated, and who may lack the ability or resources to understand their rights. Vulnerable workers may include temporary foreign workers, young workers, newcomers to Canada, and those…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
January 25, 2015
International Socialist Review: “The political economy of low-wage labor” by By Trish Kahle
“The struggles of fast-food, retail, and other service workers since 2012 have thrust the issue of low-wage work into the national spotlight and shifted the national debate over whether to raise the minimum wage from the federally mandated non-tipped wage of $7.25 per hour. Courageous workers like George Walker, a cabin cleaner at Philadelphia International Airport, have begun challenging their impoverishment as corporate profits soar. “I am over fifty,” Walker said, “and tired of living in poverty.” Walker—forced to choose…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
January 14, 2015
Produce Packer Bonduelle proposes on site housing for migrant workers in Tecumseh, On.
The following post consists of my remarks during a town hall meeting to discuss Bonduelle’s proposal to house up to 60 migrant workers on the packing plant property. The proposal necessitates an amendment to an existing zoning by-law ( Restricted Industrial) to residential so the company can renovate an existing building on site to house up to 60 migrant workers – primarily Jamaican men. What the Windsor Workers’ Education Centre is most concerned with is the isolation and segregation of…
Posted in Uncategorised | By Paul Chislett
Help workers support workers.
WWEC is a member of the New Economy Coalition
"The New Economy Coalition (NEC) is a network of organizations imagining and building a future where people, communities, and ecosystems thrive. Together, we are creating deep change in our economy and politics—placing power in the hands of people and uprooting legacies of harm—so that a fundamentally new system can take root."
Migrant Dreams
"A group of migrant farm workers dare to resist the systemic oppression and exploitation from their brokers, employers and Canadian government in small-town Ontario."