My question is to the Premier.

I was glad to stand with workers on Labour Day, but I was even more glad to stand alongside workers on strike yesterday who are having a pretty tough go right now in their workplaces in Durham region. These Unifor 222 workers are cleaners at the college who work for GDI Services, a private, contracted company. This appears to be anything but a clean fight. When the pandemic hit, these workers rose to the challenge and went to work to protect the safety of everyone on campus. Now that these workers are in bargaining for fair wages, fair workloads and appropriate staffing levels, so they can actually do their jobs properly, GDI Services has rewarded their honest work by bringing in scab labour to take their jobs.

I’ve heard the Minister of Labour say that workers should be respected.

Does the Premier believe that scab labour is an appropriate way for this company to respect its workers?

Cleaners on the picket line told me that the scabs have to use Google Translate to communicate, don’t have their WHMIS training, and don’t have the proper supplies or protections. Does this sound like a good idea or a safe idea for anyone involved?

When the NDP were in government, they brought in anti-scab legislation. The Harris regime got rid of that real quick.

So my question to the Premier is this: Will the Ford PCs support workers and support anti-scab legislation?

Thank you to the member for the question.

I am aware of the labour disruption at Durham College. The Unifor activity outside of campus transitioned from a demonstration to traditional picketing on Monday, August 29. Ontario Tech was advised of this over the weekend and on Sunday sent out a campus-wide announcement reminding everyone about picketing protocols and best practices.

The agreement between GDI and their Unifor employees does allow for replacement workers, so GDI has had a full complement of people fulfilling the cleaning services on campus since the beginning of the strike.

The university is open, and all academic activities will continue as scheduled.

I’m happy to report that this situation does not impact student learning, which is a priority for myself, as the minister. The university is open, and all activities will remain and continue as scheduled. Ontario Tech is encouraging both GDI and the Unifor group to be at the table, getting this figured out as quickly as possible, and Ontario Tech expects to receive another update soon as to how talks are progressing between the two parties. But this is not affecting student learning at this time.