Jobs with decent wages and working conditions should be a right, not a precarious privilege. Instead, workers are losing their jobs because of globalization, free trade, the high Canadian dollar, privatization, deregulation, and technological change. Many employers are choosing to:

• Introduce new technology requiring a change in work processes and workers’ skills.
• Relocate workplaces, usually to lower wage areas, often in other countries with lax employment laws and minimal worker protection.
• Close or partially close workplaces due to financial difficulties or changing employer priorities.
• Contract out services.
• Takeover, merge and buyout workplaces with a resulting change in workforce requirements.
• Privatize public operations and services.
• Cut budgets.

These employer decisions have been made easier by government deregulation in many areas affecting the workplace, from employment standards to safety measures to the elimination of tariffs and other trade barriers. The net result is less demand for workers and their contribution to the economy.

Labour fights back

Labour fights for decent jobs, the protection of public services, better living and working conditions for all workers and their families. Lobbying, workplace occupations, labour-community coalitions, petitions and protests may all play a role in this ongoing fight.

Part of this fight is pressing employers and governments to provide adequate and effective supports for workers who are laid off (known as labour adjustment programs). This package is one feature of labour’s efforts to assist unions and members facing layoffs.

This package introduces adjustment in a series of information sheets:

1. Facing Layoffs
2. Goals of Adjustment
3. Negotiating Job Protections and Adjustment
4. Early Warning Signs
5. First Things First
6. Adjustment Overview
7. Government Regulations and Programs
8. Labour Resources, Community Services, Government Programs
9. Labour-Government Guidelines for Adjustment Programs

The Canadian Labour Congress Ontario Region and Ontario Federation of Labour through their Labour Adjustment Working Group have worked in consultation with affiliates to prepare this package. It is complemented by an Ontario adjustment webpage, available on the OFL website and on the comprehensive CLC website.