By Zainab Zaman
Essential workers, public health experts, and local officials have been calling for paid sick-leave support for essential workers since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Ontario Government has confirmed that a paid sick-leave program will soon be implemented for essential workers. The call for action has been delayed for months now as many health experts have argued that a paid sick leave would reduce the spread of the virus in workplaces.
Dr. Peter Juni has been the Scientific Director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table since July 2020. He says essential workers who live paycheque to paycheque cannot afford to stay at home if they experience any symptoms.
“Essential workers will basically go to work because they do not have enough income to make it sustainable for themselves or their families,” said Juni.
The province has not followed some of the recommendations provided by experts. Among the regulations announced on Friday is the closure of all playgrounds as well as giving police wide-ranging enforcement powers.
Dr. Peter Juni is frustrated with the government’s response to the pandemic. He says the science table did not advise these recommendations and instead insisted on paid sick days for essential workers and the temporary closure of more non-essential workplaces.
Essential workers are also considering using the paid sick-leave program to take time off work and focus on their mental health and wellness. The increased stress from working overtime, understaffing, and difficulties in implementing social distancing rules is a common concern among essential workers.
Kenzie Brissette has worked as a COVID-19 screener at the emergency register in Grand River Hospital, since the beginning of the pandemic. She says one of the toughest struggles at her job is being at risk to the virus and anti-maskers who don’t follow the safety protocols.
“A lot of angry anti-maskers tend to take out their frustrations on us even though we did not decide on these policies, they seem to think that we control the regulations put in place,” said Kenzie.
Last week, Brissette debated going to work because of her sore throat and was in doubt of possibly spreading the viral virus which is now devastating many essential workplaces.
Brissette says she is shocked that a paid sick-leave program is still not available for essential workers, “Even if I had any symptoms, I would still want to come to work because I would have no other choice and I need the money to pay rent, but that would increase the chances of spreading the virus,” said Brissette.
Brissette works up to fifty hours a week and is just one of the thousands of essential employees in Ontario that has reported fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression while still showing up to work during the pandemic.
“My mental health has suffered, I dealt with a lot of anxiety and stress when I found out that my colleague who I had to work with the next day, was still waiting for her covid test results and she was not instructed to self-isolate,” said Brissette.
A recent study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health shows that Canada was already in the midst of a mental health crisis before the lockdown measures of COVID-19. A July 2020 survey conducted by the CAMH reported that one in 10 Canadians said their mental health has worsened as a result of the pandemic.
The CAMH says essential workers including social workers and health care providers are most likely to experience the negative mental health impacts of COVID-19 because they are at greater risk of exposure to the virus.
Dr. Peter Juni says not providing paid sick leave for essential workers is a safe bet for failure.
“If we don’t get the third wave under control and if you want to prevent the fourth wave, we need to make sure that people who are exposed the most still have an income,” said Juni.
In interviews with Humber News, essential workers reported concerning experiences of stress and exhaustion caused by working overtime. As well as emotional distress from dealing with angry and combative customers.
Caroline Berdzik has worked as a cashier and stock associate at Costco Wholesale in Queen Elizabeth Blvd, Toronto, since 2018. She has never been anxious about going to work because customers verbally and physically abuse her colleagues.
“It has been mentally and physically exhausting to go to work, there is a lot of people who are impatient, and they get physical with employees or verbally violent, we have had people who start screaming and punching employees at our location,” said Berdzik.
Workers from grocery stores and the food industry have endured an enormous number of COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic. Berdzik says many employees have been told to self-isolate and wait for a COVID-19 test result if there is an outbreak at work.
“I definitely think the government should have had a paid sick leave in place at the beginning of the pandemic, why was the CERB benefit set up super quickly why didn’t they have a paid sick leave for people who need to isolate and still pay the bills,” said Berdzik.
While many grocery chains like Loblaws, Metro, and Sobeys were against “hero pay” just a few months into the pandemic, companies like Costco and Longo’s have provided a temporary wage bump for their front-line workers.
“Costco is very understanding if employees need to take time off from work, some employees used their yearly sick leave from the company when they were instructed to self-isolate,” said Berdzik.
When it comes to the federal budget, a detailed provincial sick-leave program has yet to be announced. Advocates have repeatedly mentioned how they want to see the program operate like a wage continuance. If this method is approved, essential workers can get paid as normal if they have to stay home.
For some essential workers like Mario, a TTC bus driver, a sick benefit program is administered under the by-laws of the association.
Essential workers like Mario are more vulnerable to the negative mental health impact of COVID-19, because of concerns around infecting loved ones. Mario says his mental health has worsened after he found out that his son has permanently lost his sense of taste due to covid.
“It’s been very hard, I am always stressed my mental health is not the same as it used to be, my son is a teenager, he had a fever and still has no sense of smell or taste,” Mario said.
Mario says the TTC is trying to cut their wages and bring in more part-time workers.
“I took some time off when I was in quarantine and the TTC only paid me seventy per cent of my pay, we should be able to receive our full salary,” said Mario.
With the virus still spreading and unemployment still high, essential workers see no respite from the government.
“The TTC doesn’t support their employees enough, they don’t care about overcrowding they say it does, but they don’t do anything about it,” said Mario.
The absence of paid sick days has been repeatedly mentioned as a major issue in the increase of COVID-19 cases among essential workers.
The panel of scientific experts has urged the Ford government for a provincial emergency benefit that can be instantly paid to essential workers. “If they have the chance to call in sick or say they were exposed or need to get the vaccine, they can take the time off and still get their paycheque,” said Juni.
Premier Doug Ford acknowledged the urgent guidance of health experts during his emotional press conference, that Ontario’s provincial paid COVID-19 sick-leave program can protect people from losing their jobs and is a source of income if they are sick from covid. "If you're living paycheque to paycheque, you shouldn't have to wait long for the support you need," said Ford.
“If you do not understand the epidemiology of diseases completely what you will then do is to start solutions based on political compromises that you try to achieve which will ultimately lead to the wrong decisions,” said Juni.
The Ford government has been hesitant in introducing its own paid sick-leave program while the Canada Recovery and Sickness Benefit paycheques are eligible for sick workers. However, many critics complain that the CRSB program is not enough and requires sick workers to go without pay until their application has been approved.
“The new variants are fifty percent more transmissible, this means not enough support and measures put in place for essential workers could have worked at the beginning of the pandemic, however it will not be sufficient to keep things under control now,” said Juni.
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