{"id":1688,"date":"2023-03-09T11:24:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2023-03-09T11:25:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:25:47","slug":"enough-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/?p=1688","title":{"rendered":"Enough is Enough!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO \u2013 To mark the return of the Ontario Legislature, union and community leaders held a press conference to outline the urgent issues facing workers and to demand action. As workers face a cost-of-living crisis, wage suppression, and attacks on public services, Ontario Federation of Labour President (OFL), Patty Coates, highlighted that workers are saying: Enough is enough!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast week, I participated in the 2023 pre-Budget consultations. I told the Ford government that they can no longer turn away from the real hardships that the people of this province are experiencing,\u201d said Coates. \u201cAnd today, as the legislature resumes, I\u2019m here to remind this government that they cannot continue to ignore working people. We will not let them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the end of January, the OFL launched the <a href=\"https:\/\/wesayenough.ca\/\"><em>Enough Is Enough<\/em><\/a> campaign, which highlights five demands to tackle Ontario\u2019s worsening cost-of-living crisis. Today, workers urged the Ford government to address the campaign\u2019s demands:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Real wage increases<\/li>\n<li>Keep schools and health care public<\/li>\n<li>Affordable groceries, gas, and basic goods<\/li>\n<li>Rent control and affordable housing<\/li>\n<li>Make the banks and corporations pay their fair share<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Angela Preocanin, First Vice-President of the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association; Myles Sullivan, District 6 Director of the United Steelworkers; and Alejandra Ruiz Vargas, a Toronto member of ACORN, joined Coates to share the message that Ontarians are fed up and deserve solutions that help working people, instead of making their lives more difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Preocanin and Vargas both spoke to the overlapping housing and healthcare crises.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve all seen how devastating the housing crisis has been for so many low to moderate income families in Ontario. The cost of living continues to rise, people have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. Tenants are under attack with Doug Ford\u2019s government,\u201d said Vargas.<\/p>\n<p>Preocanin added: \u201cNurses are saying: Enough is enough! We are united in the fight against critical underfunding of our healthcare system, and real wage cuts at the hands of the Ford government. As ONA members fight for a better hospital contract, we stand shoulder to shoulder with all labour partners and allies. We will fight for you, demanding real wage increases and strong public services for all Ontarians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sullivan and Coates highlighted that workers are ready to take action to demand better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking people are ready to fight for a better Ontario where our communities are thriving because living wages is a norm, people have access to benefits, health and safety in the workplace is taken seriously, and it is easy to join a union,\u201d said Sullivan.<\/p>\n<p>Coates added: \u201cWorking for workers means improving the lives of working people. It does not mean making things harder for everyday Ontarians, while developers and donors reap massive rewards. We\u2019re fed up \u2013 and we\u2019re not going to take it anymore. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the <em>Enough Is Enough<\/em> campaign, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/wesayenough.ca\/\">WeSayEnough.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Melissa Palermo<br \/>\nDirector of Communications<br \/>\nOntario Federation of Labour<br \/>\nmpalermo@ofl.ca l 416-894-3456<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO \u2013 To mark the return of the Ontario Legislature, union and community leaders held a press conference to outline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw103.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}