Campaigns
 

Earl Rowe and Wasaga Beach student workers take fight for fairness to the public

July 20, 2009

Students handed out hundreds of flyers to members of the public at Earl Rowe Provincial Park outside of Alliston and along the main beach front in Wasaga Beach on Saturday, July 18.

Katherine Nunes, an administrative assistant at Earl Rowe, organized students to line the driveway to the park on Saturday morning. Wearing orange vests, Katherine and her colleagues stopped cars to tell the public that the Ontario government will not give them vacation and holiday pay this summer. The students, members of Local 313, asked for the public’s support in their fight to have the pay restored.

The students pointed out that it’s only right that the Ontario government should have to abide by the same labour standards as other employers in the province.  

The Earl Rowe students were joined by members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who are asking the public to sign a petition to change federal legislation which bans student workers of the federal government from joining a union.

Helena Whale and a fellow student from Sibbald Point Provincial Park joined the Earl Rowe and Wasaga Beach protests. Whale, a shift supervisor at Sibbald Point, organized the kick-off protest at her park the weekend before.

Ethan Townsend, a security officer at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, organized students to wear picket signs with the slogan “Fairness for Student Workers,” and hand out flyers along the main beach front of the town on Saturday evening.

The Wasaga Beach students, members of Local 313, explained that many of them took jobs with the park with the expectation they were getting the 8.16 per cent pay in lieu of vacation and holidays because it was promised in the job ads they responded to.

In fact, many students signed contracts in the early spring with the 8.16 per cent pay in lieu only to have the government realize its mistake and require the students to sign amended contracts.

The students said they will lose between $400 and $600 this summer, the equivalent of the cost of textbooks or one month’s rent during the school year.

The Employment Standards Act exempts the government and its agencies from following a number of minimum labour standards including the requirement to compensate workers for vacation with pay and statutory holidays.

Student workers at other provincial parks are expected to stage protests in the weekends ahead.

Fairness for Ontario government summer students Index