TORONTO, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As another sweltering Ontario summer approaches, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), frontline workers, and Ontario NDP MPPs gathered at Queen\u2019s Park to demand immediate passage of the Heat Stress Act<\/em>, a Private Members\u2019 Bill that would establish enforceable heat protection standards for workers.<\/p>\n The bill is tabled by MPP Peter Tabuns and co-sponsored by ONDP MPPs Jamie West, Lise Vaugeois, and Chandra Pasma.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re here today to endorse the tabling of the Heat Stress Act<\/em> because it does what this government won\u2019t, it protects workers,\u201d said OFL President Laura Walton. \u201cThis is about basic safety. No one should be forced to choose between their health and a paycheque.\u201d<\/p>\n Launched in May 2024, the OFL\u2019s Heat Is On<\/em> campaign has highlighted the surge in heat-related illness and unsafe working conditions. Today, over 1,000 signed petitions from workers across the province were delivered to Queen\u2019s Park demanding urgent action.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re back at Queen\u2019s Park because the government hasn\u2019t done its job,\u201d Walton said. \u201cWe\u2019ve brought petitions. We\u2019ve brought science. We\u2019ve brought stories from frontline workers and still, they refuse to act. But workers aren\u2019t backing down.\u201d<\/p>\n Edie Mariconda, President of Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 emphasized the urgent need:<\/p>\n \u201cAccess to water and rest shouldn\u2019t be a luxury. Our workers are lifting heavy bins in extreme heat for hours, often with no shade and no cooling. Paramedics face surging call volumes and wear heavy PPE with no time to recover. The risks are real, and without enforceable standards, they\u2019re unprotected.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWorking in extreme heat shouldn\u2019t be a death sentence,\u201d said Tabuns. \u201cClimate change is already here, and workers across the province are feeling the impact. It\u2019s time for the government to stop dragging its feet and put real protections in place.\u201d<\/p>\n The Heat Stress Act<\/em> would set enforceable standards and guarantee the right to safe working conditions during extreme heat.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme heat is here and it\u2019s only getting worse,\u201d Walton added. \u201cIf this government truly wants to \u2018protect Ontario\u2019, it needs to start by protecting the people who make it run.\u201d<\/p>\n Media Contact:<\/strong> cj\/COPE343<\/p>\n TORONTO, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As another sweltering Ontario summer approaches, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), frontline workers, and Ontario NDP MPPs gathered at Queen\u2019s Park to demand immediate passage of the Heat Stress Act, a Private Members\u2019 Bill that would establish enforceable heat protection standards for workers. The bill is tabled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":368976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ml.globenewswire.com\/Resource\/Download\/b5e86d59-bca4-4caf-b541-4ebaf0f2be1e","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-globenewswire"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Jenny Sellathurai
Director of Communications, Ontario Federation of Labour
jsellathurai@ofl.ca | 416-894-3456<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ml.globenewswire.com\/media\/NjkzNWQ4NTUtYzI0Yi00ZTc4LWI4OGYtMWQ0MmRhODg3YTFkLTExMDY1MzItMjAyNS0wNS0yOS1lbg==\/tiny\/Ontario-Federation-of-Labour.png\")
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