Frontline workers have been through a lot the past three years. They’ve kept us safe and our economy running under unprecedented circumstances. Yet this government looks ready to keep punishing them.
Frontline workers have been through a lot the past three years. They’ve kept us safe and our economy running under unprecedented circumstances. Yet this government looks ready to keep punishing them.
In 2019, the Ford government passed Bill 124, which capped public sector workers to a one per cent annual raise for three years. The government claimed it was needed for fiscal reasons, but we have since learned this was not true. We also learned that the government knew the bill would cause staff shortages but went forward with it anyway.
And now we are experiencing the destabilizing effects.
It’s not normal to see emergency rooms closed. It’s also not normal to have schools scrambling to find qualified teachers and education workers.
But there is an easy, achievable first step to help restore stability; the Ford government must accept the ruling that Bill 124 is unconstitutional. It wrongly targeted frontline workers, the majority of whom are women.
They deserve fairness and respect.
Jennifer Kumpf
Sarnia