NEWS RELEASE
ANDREA HORWATH, ONTARIO NDP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE
************************* Horwath commits to protecting good jobs
Accepts another key endorsement from Wayne Fraser, director of District 6 Steelworkers
QUEEN'S PARK – (February 9) - Andrea Horwath, candidate for the leadership of Ontario's New Democrats, picked up another key labour endorsement as she announced her commitment to protect and promote good jobs and her opposition to plans to abandon manufacturing and forestry while subsidizing low-wage paying employers.
"Instead of acting to save good jobs Dalton McGuinty tells workers they're on their own in these uncertain times," said Horwath [shown]. "It's time for new leadership that stands with the working people of Ontario."
Horwath proposes an aggressive plan to protect and promote good jobs in the midst of economic downturn:
- Invest in sector strategies that bring government, management and workers together to sustain and improve and create new industries – everything from light-rail to forestry.
- Provide government investment in companies, or workers, who are willing to innovate to create high-value manufacturing and preserve jobs – through worker ownership, by accepting unionization and partnering with organized workers, by providing education and skills development.
- Protect vulnerable workers in low-waged jobs by raising the minimum wage, expanding enforcement of employment standards, and protecting the right to organize and bargain collectively.
- Reject new proposals for wage insurance and calls to abandon manufacturing and forestry sectors.
Horwath rejected a call from other leadership contenders for corporate tax cuts: "We don't need another round of across-the-board corporate tax cuts. I know some businesses are hurting, but working families are hurting too. We can't cut taxes and expect to invest for the future."
Wayne Fraser, the elected director of District 6 of the United Steelworkers, representing more than 80,000 Ontario workers, announced his support for Horwath's campaign for change today from Sudbury.
"I'm supporting Andrea Horwath as an Ontarian, a Northerner, a New Democrat and a Steelworker," Fraser said. "Andrea's not just a dynamic new face; she's the strong, capable and determined leader we need in the tough times ahead."
Horwath was also joined by NDP MPP Peter Kormos and Ontario Federation of Labour President Wayne Samuelson, who are among the prominent endorsers of the Hamilton Centre MPP's leadership bid.
For more details, please visit AndreaHorwath.com.
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