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iG?G/iurning back the clock on workers' rights n a street corner greenspace. Ojust steps from Queen's Park, sits an historical plaque that puts much of the struggles of work- ing people in our province in per- spvctive. Dated 1872. the plaque is a reminder of how far workers have CUIIN’ from that ttme nearly 130 yours ago when 24 typographers were Imprisoned for lending an ille- gal strike In secure a nine-hour workday. The workers wnn their strike and a shorter workweek. And Prime Minister John N MacDonald's Tory gm'ernmem passed the Trade Union Act. which legally allowed labour unions to exist, The historic dispute marked the beginning ofa more tral- anced relationship between work- ers, employers and government. Today in Ontario. just over a cen- tury later. that precarious balance is in jeopardy. The delicate relation. ship is being thrown askew by a Tory government determined to turn back the clock and spiral workers' rights to a time when there was no weekend. the health of workers was put at risk and employers had the upper-hand. The Tories have levelled at work- ers, particularly those not protected by a union. a hurtful. double wham- my punch. Early in November, they introduced amendments to the Ontario Labour Relations Act that would, among other regressive stuff, make It harder for vulnerable work- ers to tom a union Then, at the end of November they repealed five ans. mcludmg the [Employment Standards Act. the legislation that provides the base Mor protections for millions of non-union workers in the province an that the Tories have rammed the legislation Into law, all workers m Ontario stand to lose hard-won rights, The Act reads like a tum-of-the-century robber baron wish list. It allows for an increase in the workweek to M-up from " hours - without the government permit now required. But perhaps the most odious anti-worker provi- sion covers overtime While oer time matter " hours will still kick You said it QUESTION WAHTARE DOING ON NEW YEARS HTY'I'ERE in. overtime will be averaged over a font-week period. Only after toiling for 176 hours will a worker be enti, tled to overtime pa): Let's do the math. If a factory worker puts in 16 hours the first week and 40 hours for three succes- sive weeks. he m she will receive not a penny in overtime pay. Under the existing standards they would he paid 12 hours of overtime. Those unpaid overtime hours are a free gift, straight into the employer's pocket. The new law will also allow for workers' unpaid hairhour lunch break to be split into two separate 15-minute blocks There go our Cof~ fee breaks. Week Jung vacations will be a memory. because the new legis- lation permits employers to Sched. ule vacations one day at a time. And remember the weekend. lt too is threatened. The Tories repealed the One Day's Rest in Seven Act, the leg- islation that guarantees workers at least one day off a week. According to the labour minister. all this "flexibility" will require employee consent: that employers cannot just simply force employees to work extra hours, or take one-day vacations. That's all well and good in an ideal world, where employees and employers have equal power. But in the real world. employers hold the power m the workplace and employees who may say no once to this new "flexibility" will be shown the door when they say no twwe. The realm' is that workers in non- union workplaces Will he pressured by bad emplrrvers to work up to Mr hours a week, and work increasingly irregular schedules, They are vulner able and will sign the required con- sent because their jobs will be on the line if they dont cooperate Those who will be hurt the most are the working poor, women and visi- ble minority workers, employed in small businesses and aiming low- it's hard to believe that In ontario,worur-towinneedof protection, not just from bad employers but hom their govern» I'm trying to make plans, but right now I’m dealing with pro- crastinating friends." "l'm going to Fed Hall again. I've gone there for the past three years because ity, good." Pamela Ambachtsheer 0 THE CHRONICL] C0h/fj)/ffjNT Laura Gies ment. Limiting democratic debate and ramming legislation through at breakneck speed are trademarks of this government. Now that the Tories have their way, Ontario will have more in com- mon with low-wage, right-to-work southern US. Mates than progres- sive European countries and other Canadian provinces. So. at a time when many industrialized countries and five Canadian provinces are introducing a shorter “hour work, week. this government's plan for Ontario workers is less quality lami- ly time and unsafe levels of working hours, all in the name of increasing "flexibility" in the workplace. It seems odd that the Tories, who tweak the family Values chord as often as they can, would promote a workweek that forces workers into a system of irregular and contingent schedules. The labour minister argues that the government can protect work- ers. But over the last five years. the Tories have cut $8.2 million from the Ministry of Labour's health and safer ty budget and eliminated 25 per cent of the staff. The labour minis- ter says 20 new workplace inspec- tors will be hired. But that doesn't even bring staffing levels to where they were in 1996, So how serious can this govern ment be about enforcement of slan- dards when the labour ministry has no teeth? Higher nnes for first offenders and jail time for repeat offenders sound good. but unless there are vigilant inspections and the staff In do them there will he no enforcer ment Working people 60 hours doesnt create more new lohs It doesn't get people legitimately off the welfare rolls and into real productive jobs So why are the Tories bent on doing this? It's simple. The Tories reward those who reward them. And low. wage workers arent big contributors to the Tory w chest. _- Gaming-aide: V of,t"g,tTt,ttll,'l'lh 'Tm going up north to Hanover snow- mobiling." "Nothing special. Just a quiet evening with the rest ofthe reindeer." Ted "Ruditlph" Gilwrson ltt)Nlt ll Jeremy Falconer Cleaning out my IN basket uring the course of a year, I gather great stacks of newspa- D per clippings and material found on the Internet, Some of those bits of information get turned into columns. and some are left to wait in my IN basket (real or virtual). As the year 2000 draws to a close, it is now time to clean out that IN basket. What follows are some unrelated, but interesting snippits that never became columns. All of them deal with Ontario issues, with an understandable emphasis on more recent events. Meat inspection: our next Walkerton? According to Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton. there are now only four meat inspectors for the entire province. in the legislature last week, he told the agriculture minister that "there are more slaughterhouse; that are now operating illegally... Everybody else out there knows about the problem. The only thing you've done about it is cut the number of meat inspectors overall and cut the number of inspectors who are supposed to be dealing with the illegal abattoirs as well. Will it take another Walkerton before your government understands that your gov- ernment, all governments, have a job to do in protecting the health and safety of our citizens and the private sector isn't going to do it for you?" Dave Tsubouchi on education As a high school student in 1969, Solicitor General David Tsubouchi said some things that his colleagues should heed today In his editor's message in the high school yearbook, Tsubouchi wrote: "Until we do realize that ‘the school is not just bricks e.. we " , . s will have accomplished nothing, and i\l\() ll MRI ‘ until we find the true experience of Mms, school spirit. we will have failed." il l The Ipperwash plot thickens FG ”we? Management board chair Chris l . . 1% a ‘ Hodgson has lost his fight to avoid (l g . i being added to the wrongful death law- - - _ » - t suit brought by the family of slain “ " " ' e, 3 ' _ Indian activist Dudley George A previ- "at .. ' W. , ously secret government memo indi- I , Kia "' rates that Hodgson, then Natural P _ - 1 Resources Minister. attended a meeting ' with Premier Harris (already part of the SCOTT lawsuit: just hours before (ieor c was shot dead by the (WP at (',i?e')'di'5", PIATKOWSK] Provincial Park, The memo notes that "the Premier and Hodgson came out strong" in argumg against a peaceful resolution of the occupation. ln reaching her, Superior Court Justice Gloria Epstein noted that "there Is a possibility that such wording is capable of supporting a prima facie case against Mr. llodgson." George died less than an hour after he was shot. but the issue of government accountability for that death will not die. Our privacy is at risk Check out these clauses from recent provincial legislation. as compiled by The Toronto Star (which called them "a systematic attack on our privacy-): __..--- __.. W. ,.._u,/, . The government's "get tough on crime" legislation states that anyone with personal information "shall. despite these (other) acts, and despite any conrtdentiality provision of any other act, disclose the information to the attorney general". . The Safe Schools Act says that the education minister "may collect such personal information.., as the minister may specify to ensure the safety of pupils." According to the act. she can then disclose it to whomever she wants. including private corpora lions (who are not bound by any legislation to keep this informa- tion confidential), . A new lawdealing with sex offenders allows the solicitor gen eral to "at any time obtain information from any other record of information available In the ministry, or from any other sourcc that is not a record". and In give it to police to use in "law enforcement" . . A law forcing the mentally ill to get treatment lets the mlms ter of health make whatever regulations she wants "govermng the use. disclosure and retention of personal information obtained from the disclosure, transmission or mammalian of a clinical record " The possible effects of Hydro deregulation According in an article In The New York Times. ‘Lalrfnrma _ deregulated power industry, in which producers can sell electric 'ty for whatever the trafftr will bear Mas led to a situation where) the state faces an electricity shortage so severe that the governor has turned off the lights on the official Christmas tree The shortage has proved highly profitable to power companies. and raised suspicions of market manipulation, The experience raises questions about deregulation. And more broadly, it is a warning about the dangers of placing blind faith in markets" The article goes on to cite a series “situations in which power plants were shut down for "repairs" at times of peak demand, lending to min price increases Ontario's electricity industry is Beretpr 1atingasofNrrl Istttiswhereweareheaded? AN OT H E R V! EW A, l cF?:, é 'tmtl, PIATKOWSKI