NDP urges Ford to take action on temp worker protections
QUEEN’S PARK — NDP Workplace Health and Safety and WSIB critic, Wayne Gates, used the first day Doug Ford returned to work to call on him to take urgent action to protect temp workers after the tragic death of 57-year old grandfather Enrico Miranda at Fiera Foods last month.
“The Doug Ford government has refused to ensure temp workers have the same protections as all other workers — and that’s putting lives at risk,” said Gates, who asked Monday during question period about the lack of consequences for Fiera Foods after five worker deaths.
“When is this government going to take action to ensure temp workers have protections to ensure they don’t die on the job?”
Gates will also be tabling a motion today in the Legislative Assembly calling on the Ford government to immediately implement section 83 (4) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to improve protections for temp workers.
Gates said Ford’s cutbacks and deregulation in workplace safety training is a concern for the whole province.
“Workplace safety under Doug Ford is getting worse, not better. The NDP is proposing new measures to protect temp workers, and an immediate public investigation into the workplace practices of Fiera Foods. We cannot wait for another death or serious injury before taking action,” said Gates.
Miranda is the fifth temp agency worker to die in an industrial accident since 1999 at Fiera Foods – the second just since Doug Ford came to power. Seventy-five per cent of Fiera Food’s workforce are temporary workers.
The NDP previously brought forward legislation to cap a company’s number of temporary workers at 30 per cent, and to limit the amount of time a person can be employed on a temporary basis before they must become a permanent employee.