Toronto, ON – There are three Machinists Councils in Canada, the Maritime Machinists Council, the Quebec Machinists Council and the Ontario Machinist Council or OPCM and this past weekend, the OPCM celebrated its 56th conference.
It began with a welcoming speech from Jim McDowell – President of the Peel Region Labour Council. The conference came on the heels of the changes to the Ontario Employment Standards Act and the Ontario Labour Relations Act, announced by the ruling Liberal Government. McDowell praised the IAM for its hard work on the Changing Workplaces Review – the first real changes to Ontario Labour laws since the early 1990’s. “While increases in the minimum wage to take effect in two stages beginning in January 2018 are a step in the right direction, they won’t mean a damn thing if they’re not enforced,” he said. He cautioned delegates and guests that there are still too many exemptions under Ontario’s labour laws. “Too many new Canadians do not know their rights and too many employers are still taking advantage of that ignorance.” One way to correct that is to have all temporary workers folded into bargaining units after a certain period of time. “We need card-based certification for all occupations in this province and no one should be exempt,” he said.
Photo: Peel Region Labour Council President Jim McDowell, congratulates delegates to the 56th OPCM conference, on the hard work provided by the IAM in making changes to the provincial minimum wage laws.
