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Newsstand: May 4, 2015
Today: an anti-carding protest at the police headquarters, teachers' strike in Peel, and growing part-time work desperation.
On Saturday, hundreds of people turned up at Toronto police headquarters to simultaneously demand an end to the police practice of “carding” and to stand in solidarity with the people of Baltimore, where people are mourning the loss of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died while he was in police custody. Speakers included a community worker from Baltimore, a trans woman of colour, and journalist Desmond Cole, who has written much on the subject.
Peel region high school teachers are the latest to walk off the job in a round of strikes after unsuccessful negotiations with the province. Peel District School Board Chair Janet McDougald aid the issues at stake in this strike are non-monetary, although she wouldn’t say what they are.
The Toronto Star delves into the ways in which an outdated Employment Standards Act leaves Ontario’s growing numbers of part-time and temporary workers with no safety net whatsoever. Part-time employees are often expected to have full-time availability even though they are not required to have a certain number of hours in a week; there is nothing to stop employers from paying part-time staff less than others; and there is no regulation requiring employees to be given their schedules in advance. Together, these and other regulations make a system wherein many low-wage, part-time workers desperately need a second job but can’t take it on because they are required to be available at all times. This trend toward sporadic low-wage work is part of a larger trend of growing inequality in Toronto.