COMMUNIQUÉ
Thorncliffe
Residents Want RESPECT
The
Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Toronto & York Region Labour
Council, and Workers’ Action Centre held a town hall meeting last night
with residents in the Thorncliffe community. The focus of the community
meeting was to discuss and organize for the RESPECT campaign – a
campaign to improve the lives of people and communities.
RESPECT,
a campaign of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council in partnership
with community organizations, was launched on May 22, 2007. The campaign
has six demands: respect my right to a minimum wage of at least $10 now,
not in three years; respect my right to have a stable full-time job;
respect my skills and experience wherever I gained them; respect my rights
to have housing and childcare and education; respect my right to have a
union voice at work; and respect my rights for social benefits, if I need
them.
Local
residents were vocal and frustrated when speaking about the issues
impacting their lives. Participants spoke of housing being insufficient,
rents being too high, classes being overcrowded, their education not being
recognized and the minimum wage not being enough to make ends meet.
Khaled
Ferdaus, who has a MBA from Bangladesh and has lived in Thorncliffe Park
since 2003, commented “My wife and I have to work long hours at minimum
wage. We cannot wait until 2010 to earn $10 an hour. Minimum wage should
be enough for people to survive on without living in poverty…I want the
McGuinty government to respect my experiences and skills and allow me to
practice my profession.”
Lucia
Parabakaran, who is a community organizer with the Workers’ Action
Centre, outlined the serious challenges facing low wage workers, many of
who are women and workers of colour. “Our society has been impacted by
low wages. Our rights as workers cannot be ignored by the McGuinty
government.”
Karen
Dick, also an organizer at the Workers’ Action Centre stated “One in
three employers break the law, which means that most workers are facing a
lawless workplace. The RESPECT campaign is calling for the long overdue
enforcement of labour laws in Ontario.”
By
the end of the two hour community meeting residents were ready to take the
RESPECT campaign and its demands into the schools, apartments, mosques,
churches and temples. As people, as workers, as a community – they are
demanding RESPECT.
For
more information contact Judy Vashti Persad at (416) 441-3663 ext. 224
###
Toronto
& York Region Labour Council, 15 Gervais Dr., Ste. 407, Don Mills, ON
M3C 1Y8
416.441.3663 Fax 416.445.8405 www.labourcouncil.ca council@labourcouncil.ca
