Student workers protest loss of vacation and holiday pay at two more provincial parks

TORONTO – Student workers of the Ontario government will take their fight for vacation and holiday pay to the public this weekend at two more provincial parks.

Students at Earl Rowe Provincial Park, near Alliston, will leaflet cars going into the park.

Saturday, July 18, 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Main entrance to the park, off Hwy 89, just west of Alliston

Students from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park will leaflet the main beach area in town.

Saturday, July 18, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Wasaga Beach, main beach area, on Beach Drive, between Spruce St. and Third St.

Students at Sibbald Point and Six Mile Lake Provincial Parks leafleted cars entering their parks last weekend.

Students are upset at the government’s decision to no longer pay its 3,400 student employees vacation and holiday pay. This means that students who work statutory holidays – and they are required to in the provincial parks – will receive no extra pay beyond their hourly wage.

The government’s decision to no longer give students 8.16 per cent pay in lieu will cost each student an average of $450 over the course of the summer.

The government isn’t making the payments because it doesn’t have to follow the same labour standards as all other employers in the province. The government’s own law, the Employment Standards Act, exempts the Crown from a number of minimum labour standards, including compensating workers for vacation and statutory holidays.

More than 3,000 students work for the Ontario government each summer at provincial parks, tourist attractions, travel information centres, on ferries and for many other programs.

Many of the government services that Ontarians enjoy in the summer rely largely on student labour.