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THE ONTARIO WE WANT OFL LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO MAKE IT FAIR: GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT FOR LABOUR LAW REFORM TO HIT TARGET REGIONS The OFL kicked its campaign for labour law reform into full swing in March, with launch of MakeItFair.ca. The campaign is focused on seizing the historic opportunity presented by Ontario’s “Changing Workplaces Review” to champion sweeping changes to the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act that would elevate employment standards for every worker and make it easier to join a union. Throughout history, unionized workers have been able to win incredible gains at the bargaining table that have become the law of the land. Important rights like maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, the 40-hour week and a ban on child labour would never have been won without that collective power. Today, Ontario’s workplaces are changing dramatically and all workers are losing ground. There are roughly two million unionized workers but there are over 1.7 million low-wage workers earning at or near the minimum wage. Over half of our workforce are trapped in precarious part-time, contract and temporary jobs. 4 The success of this campaign very much depends on the commitment of every union and every member. We are calling on every union and every local to pass a resolution to support the campaign, assign activists to every regional hub where they have members and to affiliate to their local labour council. The campaign website is designed as a central repository for action. With the balance shifted to precarious work, every worker is being dragged into a race to the bottom but the OFL campaign intends to bring labour unions together to reverse that trend! At the heart of the campaign is a strategy to mobilize our movement from below to put strategic pressure on vulnerable members of provincial parliament to support our campaign or suffer defeat in the next election. We have organized the province into 16 target regions and in each one we are setting up a “Local Organizing Hub” to drive a community-based campaign that is focused, sustained and relentless. SPRING 2016 • VOLUME 6, ISSUE 2 It drives visitors to sign up to “take the pledge”, which will allow the OFL to grow a list of key supporters to mobilize for future actions, based on their union and their region. The site provides updates and campaign documents, along with regionally specific data on current labour market trends and measures of inequality. However, the defining feature of the site is a live and interactive event calendar that provides regionally specific, real-time updates on meetings and actions in every one of our target communities. The OFL is dedicating all of its energies to the campaign, but a talented labour organizer, Melisa Bayon, has been hired to spearhead organizing