PETITION TO RECOGNIZE THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL WORKERS IN ONTARIO

TO The Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

WHEREAS the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights enshrine the fundamental rights of all persons in Ontario to freely join, organize and participate in a union without threat of intimidation, discrimination or persecution;

WHEREAS the card based union certification process, which was enforced in provincial legislation for nearly five decades until its cancellation in 1995, allowed persons in Ontario to exercise their fundamental right to freely join a union;

WHEREAS the current vote based union certification process creates a labour relations environment where intimidation, discrimination and persecution of persons who exercise their fundamental right to freely join a union, occurs with impunity;

WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly of Ontario has enacted the card based union certification process for the construction sector exclusively, while the majority of Ontario’s workers continue to be denied their fundamental rights to freely join, organize and participate in a union;

WHEREAS the continued denial of the card based union certification process for the majority of Ontario’s workers is a violation of these fundamental rights;

WE the undersigned petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

In accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the Ontario Labour Relations Act must be amended immediately and the card based union certification process be enacted for all workers in the Province of Ontario.