As the global community recognizes May 17 as the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the Ontario LGBT community is making gains in human rights and protections, one legislative step at a time. After its fourth introduction before the Ontario Legislature, Bill 33, the Right to be Free from Discrimination and Harassment Because of Gender Identity or Gender Expression Act, 2012, has finally been passed through Second Reading. The bill, commonly known as “Toby’s Act,” was debated and voted on for the first time ever in the Ontario Legislature, and has now been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Help spread the word and support CUPE 966 (Ontario Works staff) to get a fair contract from the Region of Peel.

(TORONTO, ON) -- Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) President Sid Ryan called for social justice for the Sikh community before a hundred thousand at a Baisakhi Day (or Vaisakhi Day) Celebration in Etobicoke, Ontario on Sunday, May 6, 2012. OFL Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison and Executive Vice-President Irwin Nanda also joined the annual event that included a parade from the Mississauga neighbourhood of Malton to a religious centre in Toronto’s west-end. The three officers participated with NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea-Gore-Malton), who is himself an outspoken advocate for social justice, human rights and workers’ rights.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Imagine the outrage of Canadians who heard the news today that top Air Canada honchos are heaping increases by the spoonful on their multi-million dollar compensation plates. This news comes to Canadians only days before talks are set to resume with two unions representing Air Canada employees and after a year in which you used the full legislative power of first your majority government to help Air Canada quash the fair wage and benefit demands of workers by eliminating basic labour rights.

Tune in to CBC Radio’s “Sunday Edition” on Sunday, May 6 after the 9 am news to hear OFL Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison and retired USW National Health and Safety Coordinator Andy King talking to Michael Enright about the 20th anniversary of the Westray Mine disaster. This tragedy resulted in the deaths of all 26 miners who were working underground at the time and gave rise to Bill C-45, which became known as the “Westray Bill.”

(TORONTO, ON) -- “McGuinty’s Liberals relied on the support of the NDP to pass the Ontario Budget and they will continue to rely on this partnership in the weeks and months ahead,” said OFL President Sid Ryan. “The vote this afternoon on labour law reform will be a test of the new relationship between the Liberals and the NDP.”

May Day and South Asian Heritage Month Celebration

Our collective fightback against the Liberal budget was inspiring. Beginning with an Executive Board resolution in early February that called for a full-out campaign against McGuinty’s austerity budget, and culminating with the huge April 21 mass demonstration at Queen’s Park, we were the catalysts for all of the positive elements in the final budget deal that was eventually brokered.

Thousands of workers, friends and families of those killed and injured on the job will gather at ceremonies across Ontario to commemorate the labour movement’s most solemn occasion, the annual Day of Mourning, and to call for the vigorous use of the Criminal Code of Canada provision that enables prosecution of corporate executives, directors and managers who act wrongfully or negligently.

(TORONTO) – OFL President Sid Ryan will be a key speaker 12 noon, Friday, April 27 at the Monument to Chinese Railway Workers, Toronto (west of Spadina, south of Blue Jays Way) in this first of numerous Ontario Day of Mourning events that commemorates the deaths of workers killed or injured on the job. At the Toronto event, special attention will be devoted to the three workers killed in February’s horrific train accident. The victims were two veteran engineers, Ken Simmonds, 56, and Peter Snarr, 52, of Toronto, and a trainee, Patrick Robinson, 40, of Cornwall.APRIL 28 DAY OF MOURNING ALSO MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF WESTRAY BILL

On behalf of over one million workers in Ontario, I am writing to you to express our strongest solidarity with your movement to stop tuition fee hikes and maintain a high quality, accessible post-secondary education system in Québec. We salute your movement’s determination to continue in the face of an intransigent government and violent police crack-downs.

Today, the McGuinty government has been forced to acknowledge the labour movement's warning that wealthy Ontarians are not paying their fair share and that tax fairness is essential. As important as this is though, corporations have been allowed, once again, to avoid their tax responsibilities.

(TORONTO, ON) -- Nearly 100 buses rolled in to Toronto to join over 15 thousand Ontarians from all walks of life for the largest protest of McGuinty’s term. Community and labour groups from towns and cities across Ontario, and as far away as Timmins, converged at Queen’s Park only days before the final budget vote to demand fair taxation from banks and corporations.

(TORONTO, ON) -- At a media conference held at Queen’s Park today, representatives of 90 community and labour groups unveiled a province-wide campaign, called “We Are Ontario,” to challenge lopsided budget priorities that promise more hardship for families while protecting the profits for big corporations. McGuinty’s cuts to jobs and services, which are the largest since Mike Harris’ first term of office, have stirred an opposition to match.

(TORONTO, ON) -- A media conference to be held at Queen’s Park on Friday, April 20 at 10:00 am will launch a province-wide campaign, called “We Are Ontario,” that brings together over 90 labour and community groups to oppose unfair budget cuts that target poor and middle-class families while rewarding banks and corporations. The campaign is planning a 3:00 pm rally of thousands at Queen’s Park on Saturday, April 21 but it will start the prior evening with a mass community assembly, called the “Common Front,” from 3:00 to 6:00 pm on Friday, April 20 at the Church of the Holy Trinity (behind Toronto’s Eaton Centre).

(TORONTO, ON) -- With thousands already signed up to board 97 buses from as far away as Timmins, and thousands more planning to travel by foot, car and streetcar to the Queen’s Park Legislature, Saturday’s rally against McGuinty’s deep budget cuts is expected to demonstrate widespread public opposition only days before the final budget vote.

The April 21 Day of Action Against Cuts is only one week away and thousands are already planning to attend, but your help is needed to build on the momentum and take our demand for corporate tax fairness directly to Queen’s Park … and Canada’s Financial District.

On April 11, workers around the province will be trading in the blue and white collars for pink shirts to challenge homophobia, transphobia and other forms of bullying. Celebrated each year on the second Wednesday of April, the International Day of Pink is marked by millions of people who wear pink shirts to demonstrate that positive actions can make a difference.

(TORONTO, ON) -- Ontarians from every riding in the province are solidly opposed to the unfairness of McGuinty’s budget and they are ready to go back to the polls to demand fair taxation, says a new poll conducted by Public Polling Inc. on behalf of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL).

(TORONTO, ON.) -- Today, the McGuinty government delivered two budgets to the province: a lucrative one for corporations and the financial sector and another full of deep cuts to core services for everyone else. McGuinty’s stubborn refusal to increase provincial revenue through the fair taxation of banks and corporations will cost many their jobs and many more their livelihoods.

(TORONTO, ON.) -- Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), will be available for comment on the impact of the Ontario Budget on working people across the province.

(TORONTO, ON.) -- Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), will be available during the federal NDP Leadership Convention in Toronto for comment on the leadership race to replace Jack Layton and the relationship between labour and the NDP.

Tell Premier McGuinty to build Ontario, not tear it apart.

Premier McGuinty put banker Don Drummond in charge of recommending nearly 400 cuts to jobs and public services in Ontario. At a time when Ontarians are in desperate need of economic recovery, these cuts will jeopardize every aspect of society: from health care to full-day kindergarten to pensions. No public service is safe. However, in McGuinty’s reckless plan to balance Ontario’s books by putting more people out of work and destroying the social safety net, he refuses to roll-back corporate tax cuts that are starving the province of billions of dollars that could be better used to create new jobs and help tens of thousands of struggling Ontario families to get back on their feet.

On March 21, as Canadians join people all over the world in recognizing the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Canada’s racialized wage gap and poverty-stricken Aboriginal communities tell the story of a legacy of colonialism and ongoing systemic racism that continue to conspire against equality within our borders. Even modest strides toward wage parity for some of Canada’s workers of colour are being offset by a growing gap between the richest Canadians and the rest of us. However, recent international attention on income inequality and Canada’s deplorable treatment of its First Nations has inspired a new movement to fight for real equality within our lifetime.

(TORONTO, ON) -- At a media conference held at Queen’s Park today, workers from Novotel hotels in Ottawa and Toronto shared their experiences facing discipline, suspension and termination after they were identified as union supporters. Despite the global commitment of Accor, Novotel’s parent company, to “not oppose efforts to unionize its employees,” 14 of 25 union supporters at two hotels have been targeted. A union drive taking place at a third Novotel location in North York has not yet gone to a vote and already one union supporter has been disciplined.

(TORONTO, ON) -- Ontario workers seeking to improve their working conditions by forming a union are being targeted for intimidation, reprisals and termination by employers hell-bent on making sure they can’t form a union, says the Ontario Federation of Labour. Hotel workers, cleaners in public and private buildings, service workers, and many others have been the latest casualties of labour laws that prevent the most vulnerable workers from challenging poor wages and working conditions

The global Occupy movement of the past year has drawn significant attention to the vast and expanding inequality between the richest one percent in society and the rest of us – the 99 percent. Women make up slightly over 50 percent of the Canadian population but when it comes to wealthiest Canadians, men are vastly over-represented. In the 500 largest and most influential companies in Canada, men hold 93.8 percent of the top earning positions and make up 99 percent of the highest paid 100 chief executive officers at publicly traded companies. When it comes to those who are economically disenfranchised corporate greed, women are the majority of the majority.

The OFL is pleased to call for applications for its annual Labour Honour Roll Scholarships.

(TORONTO, ON) -- Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan accused multinational mining corporation, Vale, of whitewashing an internal investigation into a 2011 double fatality at its Stobie Mine in Sudbury. A separate investigation conducted by the United Steelworkers (USW) that was released today found evidence of company negligence warranting a criminal investigation.

(Toronto, ON) -- The Ontario Federation of Labour says Ontario’s regime of corporate tax cuts has starved the province of billions of dollars and helped create a $16 billion deficit. At a meeting this morning between the heads of the province’s largest trade unions and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, the OFL will call for corporate tax fairness, not cuts to jobs and services.

(Toronto, ON) -- Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), will be available to comment immediately following the release of the Drummond Report.

(TORONTO) -- Labour activists who have teamed up with seniors, retirees and supporters are currently occupying 21 Tory MP offices across Ontario, while other actions take place elsewhere in Canada. The Harper government’s recent threat to cut Old Age Security (OAS) benefits has inflamed a new movement of workers and pensioners, calling itself a movement of “Blue-Grey Power,” that is bringing the fight against the Conservative assault on retirement security directly to Tory constituency offices.

(TORONTO) -- Following discussions between OFL President Sid Ryan and Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) Chair Steve Mahoney, the Ontario Federation of Labour received confirmation that the victims of Monday’s tragic head-on collision near Stratford will be covered by workers’ compensation and their families will be eligible for survivor benefits. The OFL is calling for a full investigation into a tragic accident that left 11dead and three survivors in critical condition.

As you are may be aware as of January 1, 2012 there is a legal requirement for compliance with the Customer Service Standard developed through the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA).

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

From 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012, the labour movement and community groups will hold a mass Day of Action against austerity cuts at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

(LONDON, ON) -- According to the Ontario Federation of Labour, today’s announcement by Caterpillar Inc. that it will close its London Electro-Motive Diesel plant two months after locking-out employees came as no surprise. Every worker should be concerned about the Harper government’s failure to protect Canadian jobs and interests.

Ontario, 1950 was still an ugly and dangerous era with active colour bars to employment, housing and education. Segregated schools, restricted neighbourhoods, collusion by governments of all levels in favour of the status quo and a justice system that actively supported pernicious racism were common features of daily life. Add to this, of course, the social mores of allowable harassment, contempt and often open threats, and those of you alive during this era will remember it well.

Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today on the critical issue of retaining childcare centres in the Region of Peel.

(TORONTO) -- Frustrated by Premier Dalton McGuinty’s broken promise to reduce tuition fees, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) will be joining students today for a massive rally to drop tuition fees. OFL President Sid Ryan is calling on the province to scrap its boutique “tuition rebate grant” and replace it with an across-the-board tuition fee reduction that would reduce upfront education costs for all students.

(Mississauga, ON) – A quick response from parents, the Brampton-Mississauga and District Labour Council, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), the OFL, the CLC, affiliates and scores of community allies put the brakes on a rushed vote by Peel Region Council to close 12 public child care centres.