It has been over two years since 28,000 ACTRA members have been locked out of the national commercial agreement by the ICA. ICA walked out on negotiations. This illegal lockout has been propped up by this government’s hiring of union-busting ad agencies to create ads that further stab ACTRA members in the back by using non-unionized replacement workers, pitting workers against one another.

Speaker, there are over 100 ACTRA members here today advocating. They’re actually fighting for their livelihood. The question is to the Premier. Will the Premier and Ministers of Labour and Culture attend the We Rise Up Rally here at Queen’s Park and hear how their illegal lockout is affecting ACTRA workers, help get ICA back to the table to negotiate, stop using union-busting ad agencies and support our Bill 90 to protect these workers, some of the most precarious workers in Ontario?

Stand up and save the workers.

My question is to the Minister of Education.

TVO workers have entered their seventh week on strike, fighting for fair wage increases, after a decade of watching inflation erode their salaries. Now they’re being asked to accept another three years of below-inflation increases while TVO management have set aside $17 million for mysterious and unspecified “long-term investments.” A small fraction of that $17 million could end this strike tomorrow.

Will the minister direct TVO management to make a fair bargain with CMG workers?

These are education workers, they’re journalists, they’re producers, and they’re buckling under the affordability crisis—whether it’s rent, whether it’s food.

So I will ask again: Will the minister, will the government of Ontario direct TVO to make a fair deal with its workers or agree to binding arbitration to end this strike promptly? Again, to the Minister of Education.

This question is to the Premier. The Conservative government introduced back-to-work legislation that disregards the value of 55,000 CUPE front-line education workers in our schools, many of them the lowest-paid workers in education, who are disproportionately women and BIPOC people. This government legislation blocks workers’ bargaining rights, and charter and human rights. These are workers who make an average of $39,000 a year as custodians, bus drivers, librarians, education assistants supporting students with disabilities and behaviourals, lunchroom supervisors, hall monitors and early childhood educators. They’re also parents.

My question is to the Premier. The Premier’s salary is over $208,000 a year. The Minister of Education’s is over $165,000 a year. Their salaries keep going up despite inflation. Why do the Premier and the minister think their work is five times more valuable than education workers caring for Ontario’s children in our schools? Why are PCs paying education workers below inflation?

This pre-emptive strike legislation, similar to Conservative Bill 124 that produced a mass exodus of nurses from health care, will push education workers out the door, never to return. You cannot keep students in class without the caring adults, the education workers, who are the backbone of our education system, helping them every step of the way.

My question is back to the Premier; it’s nice to see you today. Will you stop this attack on education workers, get back to the bargaining table and honour our students, our future leaders, and education workers with a fair deal? That $39,000 is not enough.

I proudly stand in support of this petition entitled “Put Public Safety First. Get a Fair Deal for Safety Inspectors.

“Whereas safety inspectors at the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) help ensure the safety of Ontarians by inspecting amusement park rides, food trucks, elevators, fuel-burning equipment, propane-dispensing stations, boilers and pressure vessels in our schools, hospitals, long-term-care homes, nuclear power plants and more; and

“Whereas TSSA safety inspectors have been bargaining for their first collective agreement since November 2021, and when the employer walked away from the table were forced out on strike on July 21; and

“Whereas TSSA safety inspectors are fighting for improved accountability for public safety standards and practices, wages and benefits that are consistent with industry standards, measures to address understaffing issues and improve retention and recruitment and be a stronger voice in the workplace; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario, including the Premier’s office, is responsible for protecting public safety and ensuring that provincial agencies such as the TSSA bargain with their employees in good faith.

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—intervene to ensure that the TSSA stop its stonewalling, return to the bargaining table and negotiate fairly with OPSEU/SEFPO Local 546 TSSA members to reach a deal;

“—ensure that newly unionized employees have automatic access to first contract arbitration should they want it when bargaining reaches an impasse; and

“—commit to labour policies and legislation that are actually working for workers and advance a decent work agenda for all working people in Ontario.”

I absolutely support this petition—a shout-out to all the safety inspectors in Toronto–St. Paul’s. I’m handing this, affixed with my signature, to Sophie.