1h

Ontario Tories squash bill
on domestic workers rights

TORONTO — With arrogant
Smirks on their privileged faces,
€nough Tory members rose in the
legislature Oct. 12 to killa bill that
Would give Ontario’s 70,000
domestic workers just the

Minimum: protection of their

human rights.

- Introduced as a private memb-

€r’s bill for second reading by New
©mocrat MPP Brian Charlton,

Bill 126 would have extended

Coverage of the Employment

Standards Act for domestic

_ Workers, who are among the low-

€st paid and most abused workers
I the labor force.

Specifically, Bill 126 would
8lve domestic servants full cover-
ge under the Employment Stan-
dards Act. Presently they are left
Out of the four key sections of the
at dealing with the minimum
Wage, hours of work, overtime
Pay, public holidays, and vaca-
Hons with pay.

Supporters of the bill showed
: Ww domestic workers are little
| More than slaves in Ontario. A
| Survey of the wages paid to

_ “Omestic workers in Toronto
Showed that based on a 48-hour
Work week, and including the
Value of room and board in cases
Where they lived in their
€mployers’ houses, wages fell
“onsistently below the Ontario

um wage. The best-exam-
Ples were from 6-8% below the
Minimum wage, while wages
Were as bad as 76% below On-
lario’s $3. per hour minimum
The

thé, Same. y showed. 48,

hours Ailes BARE Spo sth of
Number of hours worked.
Ours ranged from 45-48 a week
ee Some working as much as 80

urs,
‘weet half dozen Tory MPPs
| Who cared to sit through the

reduction of\ bill 126 also
Samed that the majority of On-
ae S domestic workers are
omen and most of them im-
wigrants brought to Canada on
hen. Permits specifying what
"aaa will be and the terms of

dine sides the fact that these con-
cial are rarely met by the
tis Ployers, the immigrant domes-
eh Workers have to live under the
jp, Jstant threat of deportation if
ofy, demand decent wages, hours
Maks Overtime pay, paid vaca-
tights and their basic human

Tied to their employers lousy °

ee and restrictive immigration

y ot ie ri usu-

; Scared to speak out

ag their exploitation at the

Politigne” the doctors, lawyers,

hire aaa and businessmen who
hem.

Ithout a trace of embarass-
Tory backbench MPPs
lag) Hennessey, (Fort Wil-

» and R.H. Ramsey, (Sault
the, Marie) stumbled through

the prepared speeches to give.

e Usiness government’s
ror for killing the bill.
dards ng the Employment Stan-
ieces Act “one of the finest
nero legislation on this con-
a Icky Hennessey actu-
fact; the opposition: “.. . the
have 3 basically, these people
€n fairly well treated and
the — Protected by and large by
Pore 8S it stands.”
Working? as the champion of
Resteg 7, PCOPle, Hennessey sug-
that Taising the minimum

wage levels for domestic servants
would deprive low income people
of using the services of domestic
workers in taking care of the sick
and helping working families in
the upkeep of their homes.

H.R. Ramsay picked up from
Hennessey to boast that the areas
under the act where domestic
workers are covered “‘represent a
very enlightened and fair situation
for a large segment of our work
force:..

The bill would destroy ‘‘the
close, often personal relation-
ships, which provide employment
and the means of earning a living
for many thousands of people ina
very satisfying way,’ he said.
Wages would drop and hours
would be reduced if employers
had to pay decent wages, he
suggested.

Ramsey inadvertently con-
demned the outrageous health
care cutbacks being inflicted on
the people of Ontario by sug-
gesting that fewer domestic
workers could produce ‘‘an in-
creased demand on our chronic
care facilities...”
. He said it was ‘‘unrealistic’’ for
households to maintain accurate
payroll records ‘‘where working
time cannot be defined precise-
ly.”’ So,: overtime pay, the
minimum wage, and premiums for
working on public holidays ‘‘be-
comes a serious problem’’.

' Expected from Tories

Outside the legislature, the re-
action of groups such as Labor
Rights for Domestic Servants

: (LRDS), the Immigrant Women’s.

Centre, and Employment Ser-
vices for Immigrant Women, was
great disappointment, although
they said results were what they
expected from the Tories.
LRDS representative Alan
Tenebaum said this is why the
groups have sponsored a public
meeting for Nov. 25 at 33 Cecil
Street in Toronto to draw more
attention to the issue and mobilize
public opinion behind the cause.
In additions Labor Rights for
Domestic Servants will be  pre-

senting a petition of more than
3,000 names and a brief outlining
their demands to Ontario Labor
Minister Robert Elgie early in the
new year.

The brief will call for legislation
giving domestic workers such

basic human rights as a 44-hour

work week, the $3 an hour
minimum wage, paid vacations,
compensation for working public
holidays, time and a half pay for
overtime and other demands.

Tenebaum noted that Quebec
has recently passed legislation
giving domestic workers the same
coverage the group is demanding
in Ontario.

Answering the Tory claim that
domestic workers are adequately
covered, Judith Ramirez of Im-
migrant Womens Centre called it
‘ta bold faced lie.’’

‘There are statistics in our files
and in their own to prove other-
wise,’’ she said. ‘‘Without this bill
domestic workers have no way of
protecting themselves. If they are
on work permits as immigrants
they can be deported if they are
fired and can’t find work as
domestic servants within two
weeks.”

Upper Middle Class

On ruining the ‘‘special
relationship’’ between master and
servant, Tenebaum noted ‘“‘there
should be no need in this province
for people to have to bridge the
financial gap to provide daycare
by exploiting immigrants and
domestic workers.”
_. The organization's statistics,
he said, showed the real exploita-
tion and abuse didn’t come from
working people hiring domestic
workers to fill a special need, but
from what Tenebaum called the
“‘upper middie class families.”’

“If you want to talk exploita-
tion,”’ he said, ‘‘take a look at the
man who owns Dylex. He netted
$12-million last year. They’re the
ones who could afford to pay a
decent living wage for their
domestic workers.”’

°

HOT CARGO CLAUSE

. FORD TALKS’ ISSUE

TORONTO — The United
Auto Workers said Oct. 15 they
are going after a clause in the new
contract they're negotiating with
Ford Motor Co., which would
give Ford workers the right to re-
fuse to handle products shipped
from suppliers such as Butcher
Engineering, where the union is

The UAW has been on strike ai
the Brampton Ont. plant since
July 9 for the Rand Formula.
Butcher does 40% of its business
with Ford.

UNSOLVED
GRIEVENCES
STRIKE ISSUE

‘REGINA — Outstanding con-
tract grievences are the issue forc-

ing 249 United Steelworkers mem-
bers to strike Westbank-Wilcox

Paid 70 cents an hour by Grossman

Nannie fights deportation —

The Toronto Globe and Mail,
Oct. 16, carries a story about
Glenora Richards, a Jamaican
woman who had been employed
by Ontario Minister of Industry
and Tourism Larry Grossman as a
nanny to look after the Gross-
mans’ three children. ee

While the story’s main point is
immigration proceedings against
the woman who is allegedly in
Canada illegally, the figures given
in the article would certainly
place the Minister in the category
of an enlightened employer.

“Grossman paid his nanny $250
per month. Quick calculation tells
us that’s $3,000 per year (or
$1,000 per year per child). The

nanny worked ‘‘14 to 15 hours a -

day and was allowed 1'2 days off
each week’’, the story says. More
calculation gives us a figure of
$57.40 a week, or 70 cents per
hour (or 23.5 cents per hour per
child).

Not being given enough of an
insight into Canadian fair play,

GLENORA RICHARDS

the woman, being held in custody
ifia Toronto hotel, can obtain her
release from the place if she posts
a cash bond of $1,000 within two
days. Given that she was fortu-
nate enough to land another job
like the one at the Grossmans’,

the nanny would only Hive to
work 1,825 hours to raise the
bond.
Gets Help From LRDS
Mirjana Tenebaum, a repre-
sentative of Labor Rights for
Domestic Servants, told the

~ Tribune Oct. 17 the $1,000 bond

was posted by the organization
for Richards to obtain her release
until her immigration hearing Oct.
19. Richards will stay at the
Tenebaum’s home until then.
‘‘There are thousands of
domestics in Canada,’ Tene-
baum said, ‘‘who are paid well
below the minimum wage.”’
Labor Rights for Domestic Ser-
vants was formed'to bring domes-
tic servants in Ontario under the

provisions of the province’s

Labor Relations Act.

Glenora Richards, 24, has
asked to be allowed to leave
Canada voluntarily so she can re-
apply for admission to return here
as a student. Deportation would
make her application impossible.

Awe SAR ti elena tei

BUS DRIVERS
WANT BACKPAY

OAKVILLE — Canadian
Union of Public Employees Local
1994, representing the town’s 50
transit drivers and maintenance
workers were’ poised to strike
Oct. 19 over’management’s re-
fusal to pay the new wage rates
retroactive to the expiry of .the
Current agreement last May 14.
The contract offer rejected earlier
in the week by the transit drivers |
had granted parity with drivers in
nearby Burlington. A five week
work to rule has been conducted
to back up contract demands.

RADIO OPS
HIT THE BRICKS

OTTAWA — Protesting slow
contract talks with federal Treas-

"only half of the 1,167 operators

were allowed to go on strike with
the remainder “designated”’ to
Stay on essential jobs.

GUILD TO VOTE
ON STAR OFFERS

TORONTO — Members of the
Southern Ontario Newspaper
Guild were to meet Oct. 18 to de-
cide whether to reject what the
Toronto Star claims to be its final
contract offers. The Guild, repre-
sents 1,500 circulation, advertis-.
ing, editorial and administrative
employees, who gave their
negotiating committee a strike
mandate Oct. 12. Two Star prop-
osals, one for 27 months and the
other for three years have been
made but Guild representative
John Bryant described the wage
offers in both deals as inadaquate.

BOYCOTT

CHILEAN GOODs!

“PACIFIC TRIBUNE— OCTOBER 26, 1979— Page 5