SATTLER: Workers are being robbed of their paycheques

LONDON — Ontario NDP MPP Peggy Sattler (London West) pressed the Ford government in Question Period today on Ontario’s growing wage theft crisis, after a London worker was left unpaid for nearly 150 hours of work.

“Speaker, my constituent Zikun Xu worked almost 150 hours as a licensed security guard in London,” Sattler said. “After earning more than $2,000 in wages, he was paid only $180. When he tried to recover the money he was legally owed, he was delayed for weeks and then wrongfully terminated without cause.”

Sattler pointed to a recent Workers’ Action Centre report showing nearly $200 million in wage theft has been reported to Ontario’s Ministry of Labour over the last decade, while workers recovered only a fraction of what they were owed.

“People are working full shifts and still going home without a paycheque,” said Sattler. “Workers cannot pay rent or buy groceries on promises and delays. This government needs to crack down on wage theft and make sure workers actually get the money they earned.”

Sattler said the Ford government needs to stop letting employers get away with wage theft and start standing up for workers who are being taken advantage of.