Stop the discrimination!


Discrimination is alive and well in Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA)! The student minimum wage affects persons under the age of 18 who work 28 hours a week or less. Today that wage is set at $0.55 less per hour than general minimum wage. As the minimum wage provisions increase over the next couple of years, the gap between the two wages increases as well. By April 2010, the difference between the student minimum wage and general minimum wage will be $0.65 per hour.

Let’s put that into perspective- today a 15 year old student who works 28 hours a week at their part time job will earn $800 a year less than an 18 year old student doing the exact same job! In two years, that same student, who will be 17 years old, will earn $950 less a year than their 20 year old co-worker.

By allowing such a law within the Employment Standards Act (ESA), Ontario is actually encouraging employers to discriminate against an entire group of people based on their age. During contract talks, employers are able to negotiate student minimum wage provisions into collective agreements and union/worker negotiating teams have been forced to concede because the law is clear. A precedent has been set and some employers are taking full advantage!

What kind of message is this law sending to our youth? The Employment Standards Act is supposed to protect and enforce worker’s basic rights in Ontario. Instead, it is allowing the discrimination of an entire group of people!

Help us end student minimum wage now! Sign the petition! Make a difference! Stop the discrimination!