Monte McNaughton publicly releases Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee's list of recommendations, December 9, 2021.  Photo courtesy of Ministry of Labour via Twitter.Monte McNaughton publicly releases Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee's list of recommendations, December 9, 2021. Photo courtesy of Ministry of Labour via Twitter.
Sarnia

Worker benefits plan among committee recommendations

The province has been given a long list of proposed changes to help the economy, severely disrupted by the pandemic.

After consulting with Ontario workers, labour groups, businesses and academics over the summer, the Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee has put together a list of 21 recommendations, aimed at creating a better future for workers.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said the next step will be taking the recommendations to the Ontario Legislature in February, 2022.

"These recommendations are just becoming public and many of them, if not all of them, are legislative changes," said McNaughton. "We're going to look at all of them and be very clear on what we're going to do going forward to improve the lives of workers in the province. Everything we're doing is about ensuring higher paychecks and more take home pay for workers, more workplace protections and more opportunities for better jobs."

One of the recommendations was that the province appoint an expert to design and test a portable benefits program, where contributors could be employers, workers and the government.

McNaughton said the province has already moved forward on some of the proposals.

"Such as the right to disconnect from work at the end of a work day, banning non-compete agreements that hold back workers from advancing their careers and earning bigger paycheck and breaking down Canadian work experience barriers, that prevent foreign trained immigrants from continuing their professions here in Ontario."

The full report and list of recommendations is available here.

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