The Changing Workplaces Review and resulting Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act has raised concerns within our membership and Ontario’s business community broadly.  The proposals are sweeping in nature, the most prominent being an increase to minimum wage to $15/HR by January 1st, 2019, pay equivalency for part-time and full-time workers, expansion of union certifiable professions; for the full backgrounder CLICK HERE. The Hamilton Chamber is engaged in advocacy in a number of ways. Our key concern remains that the Province has not released an economic impact analysis of these proposals on businesses and through the Ontario Chamber of Commerce network we have commissioned an academic analysis to be released in August.

We were also disappointed that neither our organization nor any local businesses were not selected by the standing committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to provide testimony during the Hamilton consultation on the act on July 20th. Businesses can join us in submitting a written submission by 5:30 PM on July 21^st.

For more information, CLICK HERE for a link to the Clerk’s advertisement for the Public Hearings. CLICK HERE to see the list of selected presenters and here for a live stream.

 

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Background

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce network believes that Ontario businesses are the lifeblood of our communities, creating local jobs and increasing economic growth around the province. The Government’s proposed reforms will create winners and losers amongst businesses and communities with job losses, higher costs to consumer goods, and economic hardship. This does not represent fairness. Businesses have acknowledged that meaningful reforms that respond to a changing workplace can be adopted if done so responsibly.

Our Chamber also supports the principle behind economic and income stability for all Ontarians. However, businesses are already stifled with rising regulatory burdens and cannot be expected to bear the brunt of the responsibility. Ontario’s employer community is doing its part. As you point out in Budget 2017, 98 percent of all new jobs since the recession in Ontario have been full time, and 78 percent in above-average wage industries. This positive economic activity by Ontario’s private sector demonstrates a clear commitment to good
jobs throughout our province.

Advocacy: Keep Ontario Working Coalition

We are working with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Keep Ontario Working coalition to communicate the concerns and challenges of our members with these proposals.

The Keep Ontario Working (KOW) group, a coalition of Ontario’s leading industry and sector associations as well as major employers. Through it, we are bringing together divergent voices to strengthen our collective advocacy. Broadly, our goal will be to confront elements of the legislation that we think there is still room for negotiation on, while bringing evidence to the table to support the notion of a broader package of offsets to help the business community transition into these new changes (e.g: Relief on Hydro, Taxation, Red tape for Small and Medium businesses in particular), in recognition of the ongoing escalation of regulatory burden and cost of doing business in Ontario.

We wanted to provide you with details on these next steps and how you can support these efforts. The KOW website has been updated with new content and calls to action. You can visit it at http://www.KeepOntarioWorking.com. The next phase of our letter writing campaign has launched. We encourage you to take action against these labour reforms by submitting a letter to our local MPPs through the Coalition’s website. To submit a letter, click here.

The Coalition intends to conduct its own economic impact analysis on these changes over the course of the summer, to then be followed by a broader report that identifies the real and specific challenges that will arise in communities across this province as a result of these legislative changes. The key issue is the unexpected nature of the announcement and the lack of economic impact analysis by the government. Using examples from Seattle and other American cities is not applicable here and mostly inconclusive.

Throughout the summer, we are still encouraging stories from members who can detail and articulate how these changes will impact their business. These stories have been very useful in helping government officials understand the difference in the impact these proposals will have on a variety of businesses.

Please feel free to reach out to us directly with these stories. A challenging public sentiment has been concerning the notion that large corporations “can afford” these changes, with the debates often missing the reality of small business owners and franchisees who are often recovering less than the median wage themselves.

Over the last several weeks our network has received significant media exposure on this issue, including:

•         CTV
•         CBC The National
•         CBC Metro Morning
•         CP24 Live at Noon
•         City TV
•         Globe and Mail
•         Toronto Star
•         Global News
•         BNN
•         Focus Ontario
•         TVO’s The Agenda
•        CBC Facebook Live with Meagan Fitzpatrick
•         Op-ed in the Financial Post
•        Canadian Press
•       Hamilton Spectator, CHML & Cable 14

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For more information please contact: Huzaifa Saeed | Policy & Research Analyst | Hamilton Chamber of Commerce | e: h.saeed@hamiltonchamber.ca | t: 905-522-1151 ext: 230

 

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