An Ontario Labor Group says that it is advocating for more strong workers amid health concerns on poor air quality as it adds blankets to the province with increasing frequency along with wildfire smoke.
The Ontario Federation of Labor, which represents more than 55 unions across the province, states that the push is part of a broader heat stress strategy, given how climate change is affecting the status of work.
Its chairman, Laura Walton, says that the provincial rules designed the winter temperature benchmark to protect workers from the cold, but there is no such protection from the heat or poor air quality.
She says that the federation is working to present a proposal for the legislature with the Provincial New Democrats in November, which advocates better activists amid the increasing weather incidence.
Michael Links, Professor Emeritus of Law at Western University and a former labor lawyer say that the more frequent air quality warnings in claiming the rights of the workplace in the coming years should require unions to be more “aggressive”.
He says that workers have the right to deny the work, if they feel insecure in excessive heat or smoke, who can send a powerful message to employers to re -examine the working conditions.
