Other ideas on how to tackle poverty

Posted on July 16, 2014 in Policy Context

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TheStar.com – Opinions/Readers’ Letters
Jul 15 2014.   John Cartwright

Your editorial about poverty reduction leaves out the most basic solution to tackling poverty – reducing the number of people earning poverty wages.

The government is to be commended for finally recognizing that childcare workers are underpaid and deserve a raise. The same goes for the budget promise to raise salaries of homecare workers, but that really just makes up for a decade of wage-cutting created by the entry of for-profit companies into the sector.

Here’s what else should be done. Labour law can be updated so that workers in the service sector – homecare, food service, cleaning and security — can have their jobs and wage levels protected when contracts change from one company to another. Then they wouldn’t have to start at the bottom all over again.

The Ontario government can easily take steps to make it easier for people to form unions and gain better wages and benefits. Living wage ordinances could require contractors with any government to pay above-poverty wages. And community benefits can be required for large construction projects so that young people can be assured of apprenticeships.

These kind of specific steps would make a significant difference to the working poor in our society, and cost very little. Instead of spending millions subsidizing low-wage employers, we should demand that the “labour market” works for every Ontario resident.

John Cartwright, President, Toronto & York Region Labour Council

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