County officials are concerned about the potential impact on municipalities and local employers of proposed changes to labour and employment standards laws.
On June 1 the province introduced Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, which will implement significant reforms to both the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
The bill has passed first reading and has been referred to the province’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
The bill will see the minimum wage rise to $14 an hour this fall and to $15 the end of 2018.
However councillor Chris White, who chairs Wellington County’s administration, finance and human resources committee, told county councillors at the June 29 meeting the wage increase is “only a small component” of “significant changes,” to employment legislation contained in Bill 148.
“There’s some scary things in here,” said White.
“If you’ve got a full-time person making $30 dollars and you get a casual or part-time (worker) who could make $20, they now have to make $30,” said White.
“Think about your volunteer firefighters … Does that mean they’re going to be punched up to the unionized Toronto firefighter wage?
White noted “there’s all sorts of things around scheduling” that could make life difficult for employers, including municipalities.
“You have to give them four days advance notice of their scheduling, so if you’re running casual workers in the winter trying to accommodate a snow that’s come out of the blue and you’ve got to get out there and plow the roads and you don’t have the four days to inform them, what’s that going to do?” White wondered.
“This is fundamentally changing how we do business in the province,” he stated.
“If you look at it from a business perspective there’s wages going up; it’s going to be a much more cumbersome regime.”
In addition to the higher minimum wage, the new legislation would affect pay for short notice shift cancellations, increase vacation entitlement (three weeks minimum after five years with an employer) and implement new regulations aimed at facilitating union formation at low-wage workplaces.
Combined with changes to Worker’s Compensation legislation that would reduce barriers to claims for chronic mental stress, White said the government is pursuing an agenda that includes what municipalities consider “draining legislation.
‘It’s pretty scary’
“There’s a lot more onerous legislation coming through for our employers and municipalities … there’s going to be an impact on budgets going forward,” White stated.
Councillor George Bridge, said the county’s economic development committee, which he chairs, had a “big discussion” on the minimum wage changes.
“It’s pretty scary, somewhat,” said Bridge.
While stating he is “all for trying to get people up to a living wage,” Bridge said from an economic development standpoint, the changes are likely to hinder young entrepreneurs’ attempts to start local businesses.
“They’re going to really struggle with some of these laws. We’ll have to really try to ratchet up the ability for them to gain more revenue, so I think economic development will be working toward trying to find solutions for them,” he explained.
In a report to the administration committee, acting director of human resources Susan Farrelly said she attended a meeting of an Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) taskforce in Toronto, where Bill 148 and its implications to municipalities was discussed.
Farrelly noted AMO is in the process of preparing a response to this proposed legislation. Other provincial associations, including the Ontario Municipal Human Resources Association (OMHRA) and the Ontario Municipal Health and Safety Reps Association (OMHSRA), are also preparing responses and the taskforce will be continuing to meet over the summer.
“At the County of Wellington, we are starting the process of reviewing the proposed legislation changes in detail alongside our current policies and practices to ensure that we are aligned and prepared for the impending legislative changes,” Farrelly stated in the report.
“There are several items in Bill 148 that are vague in terms of application and handling, and we anticipate that more clarity will be provided over the coming months as the review of Bill 148 progresses.”
