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The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) today launched a
provocative new campaign to call on all political parties to make the
issue of jobs, and job quality, central to the upcoming Ontario
provincial election campaign. “Fundamentally, the ‘How Screwed Are You?’ campaign asks, ‘What kind
of Ontario do we want?’” said OPSEU Political Economist Randy Robinson.
“Will we accept an Ontario where more and more jobs are part-time,
temporary jobs that don’t allow people to live decently, raise their
kids the way they want to, or retire with dignity? Or are we ready to
stand up for good, full-time, family-supporting jobs? “Our campaign aims to put good jobs front and centre on the election
agenda.”
Right now, only five out of eight Ontario workers have permanent
full-time jobs, Robinson said. The remaining three out of eight are
part-time, temporary jobs that typically offer lower pay, fewer
benefits, and limited job security.
“The job market we’re seeing now is the result of more than 30 years
of policies that have boosted corporate profits but caused wages to
stagnate and forced families work harder and longer every week just to
stay where they are,” he said. “Corporate tax cuts in Ontario are simply
the latest policy to accelerate this long-term trend.”
The state of the job market is of special concern to young workers
and their families, which is why the “How Screwed Are You?” campaign
also shines a light on high tuition fees, student debt, and parents who
are forced to postpone retirement to help their children, Robinson said.
“With the $2.4 billion a year we’re spending on corporate income tax
cuts we could reduce tuition fees by 75 per cent for every college and
university student in the province,” he said. “We do have options, and
we’re hoping our campaign will spur the political parties to put forward
aggressive proposals to foster the growth not just of jobs, but of good
jobs, for this generation and the next.”
The campaign web site at
www.howscrewedareyou.ca features an online
calculator for students, parents, and part-time workers to figure out
how “screwed” they are; several humourous videos; a fun interactive game
in which players rescue money from corporate tax cuts and redistribute
them to better uses; and a contest with three prizes of $2,400 each.
For more information: Randy Robinson
(416) 788-9134 (cell) |
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