Nestlé Workers on Strike

This week 470 workers walked off the job and stopped production at the Nestlé chocolate factory near Lansdowne and Dundas. 

Nestlé pays its temporary workers $6.57 less per hour than permanent employees, even though they do the same jobs, but it takes years of service to become permanent employees. 

A large number of Nestlé workers are Parkdale tenants. These striking workers are our neighbours in buildings on Jameson and West Lodge. Ngawang is one of them.

“I have been working at Nestlé since 2018. I am still a “P Zero’ earning $17.30 an hour. Every year my rent goes up, but my wages stay the same. This is not right,” he said. 

Workers say that P Zero temporary workers make up around 20 per cent of the factory’s entire workforce.

Workers were angered when, during union contract negotiations, Nestlé put new demands on the table at the last minute. Nestlé had been making as few as ten P Zero workers into permanent employees each year. The company then told the union that in the future they only want to make five P Zeroes permanent each year. In response, the union held a vote and 96 per cent of workers agreed to go on strike. 

Like tenants in Parkdale, workers at the Nestlé factory come from all over the world. Working-class people from every continent live side-by-side in apartment buildings and work shoulder-to-shoulder at Nestlé. 

Ngawang came to Toronto from Nepal in 2011. He supported his friends who work at the Ontario Food Terminal when they went on strike for better wages and conditions in 2016.

“I was there with other Parkdale tenants to support the Food Terminal workers when they went on strike. They are like us. We come to Canada because we have no rights at home.”

Workers like Ngawang have supported their neighbours when they needed support. Now it’s time for all of us to do the same for Nestlé workers.

“Nestlé is a multi-billion dollar company with good chocolate products. We just hope that they shorten the years to move us into Permanent. We don’t want to go strike but we deserve equal pay for equal work.”

What does the new Ontario “Eviction Ban” really mean?

Tenants are understandably confused by the latest orders from the province regarding evictions in Ontario. 

Yesterday, the Ontario government issued a temporary mandate banning most eviction enforcement during the state of emergency. This order expires in 14 days, at which time it must be renewed. But what does the ban really mean? 

Many Ontarians were not even aware the eviction ban ordered March 19, 2020, was lifted in July. Nearly 20, 000 eviction hearings were held in November and December alone.

What’s more, the new “eviction ban” is less effective than measures put in place from March to July of this year. When the earlier ban was instituted, COVID-19 case rates were around three hundred per day, with some businesses closed or modified. At that time, the government responded by banning evictions and shutting down the Landlord Tenant Board for four and a half months. Now, with case counts at an unprecedented 3,500 per day, another strict lockdown implemented in the dead of winter and more people out of work, the government has taken the underwhelming and insufficient action of pausing eviction enforcement for two weeks. That’s it. 

What can landlords do?

While the emergency order is in place, in most cases, landlords cannot have a tenant removed from their home by the sheriff. However, landlords can still issue eviction notices to tenants and file for hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board. 

What about the Landlord and Tenant Board? 

The Landlord and Tenant Board will continue to hold online eviction hearings and can still issue eviction orders. Tenants who had LTB eviction orders issued against them before cannot legally be removed from their homes. Tenants who have upcoming online eviction hearings where the LTB issues an eviction cannot be forced out through legal means while the emergency order is in place. The exception would be in cases where the LTB requests the sheriff to expedite the eviction based on “illegal acts” or “serious impairment of safety” caused by the tenant.

Temporary eviction bans only delay some evictions. Ontario tenants need rent forgiveness now!

The emergency order does little to protect tenants who fell behind on rent due to the pandemic: Landlords will still issue eviction notices and online eviction hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board will continue. Further, we know that in most cases tenants facing eviction do not stay in their unit up to the point of the sheriff coming to remove them. With or without a ban on enforcement, tenants are still facing huge debts and many will abandon their homes. Some landlords are ramping up their harassment of tenants hoping they can push them out through other means. 

Tenants need rent forgiveness.
Landlords must forgive the rents owed by struggling tenants who have been unable to pay their rent in full during the pandemic.

Eviction for unpaid rent during the pandemic must be taken off the table.
The government must prohibit eviction for unpaid rent during the months of the pandemic. Eviction orders issued against tenants during the pandemic must be rescinded.

The eviction factory must be shut down.
As long as the public health emergency continues, landlords should not be permitted to issue eviction notices, the LTB should not accept eviction applications, and no eviction order should be enforced.

Tenants! Organize!

Any solution to the mass eviction crisis will require working-class people in this city to strengthen the organizing we have been doing in our buildings and neighbourhoods. We need to find our neighbours who are behind on rent and face the threat of eviction. We need to demand that landlords refrain from evicting tenants who have been unable to pay rent in full during the crisis. And we need to insist that landlords forgive the rent struggling tenants have been unable to pay.

We must also prepare for the inevitable rush on sheriff removals that will take place once the emergency order ends. When landlords insist on throwing out tenants during COVID, we will need to physically block sheriffs and police from removing our neighbours from their homes. These are the kind of actions organized tenants across Toronto have been taking for months.

Organized tenants have the power to demand landlords agree to rent relief, but only if we keep building. Go to KeepYourRent.com to get in touch. We can help you find your neighbours and teach you how to defend against evictions. 

Half measures that only delay some evictions are not the answer. Our government has made it clear once again that we cannot leave this work to them. We need more working-class people in even more neighbourhoods to begin taking on the work of keeping our neighbours safe and housed. 

In Memory of Peter Madaka (October 5, 1961 – December 26, 2020)

A dear friend and powerful tenant organizer in Parkdale has passed away. In Memory of Peter Madaka: Peter Madaka was a neighbor of mine at 1251 King Street West.

I met him in 2018, the year our landlord applied to raise our rent above the legal guideline. People in our building responded by collectively withholding rent and organizing a series of direct actions that ultimately forced the landlord to cancel the rent increase. Peter was a big part of that win. He knocked on doors, handed out flyers, spoke with passion, clarity and wit at lobby meetings, intervened on a number of strategic questions, attended actions, raised spirits in moments of doubt, and constantly pushed us to stay vigilant in dealings with the landlord. He was tireless, upbeat and prescient. We were lucky to count him as our neighbour.

I have occasion to say these things about Peter because he died, unexpectedly, on December 26, 2020, at the age of 59. Rather than say too much more about him, I think it’s better to let Peter speak for himself. He was a colourful and acute writer. In the course of our rent strike he wrote a number of messages on our building’s internal email group, messages which reveal fragments of his personality and thought, and which offer a fitting way to connect with him in the aftermath of his passing.

Peter’s first message was in response to a flyer he received advertising our first lobby meeting:

– Hello Organizer, I am in Apartment 801; I have just come around looking at the flyer that you dropped at my door; was too busy dealing with emergencies, did not get time to look at it earlier. As a result, I missed the Lobby Meeting of 10th. I am interested in attending the next meeting if and when it takes place. Let me know whenever it occurs. Thanks.

Due to work obligations Peter couldn’t attend the next lobby meeting, where we first discussed the idea of going on rent strike. He heard about those discussions from others and followed up with questions:

– Does the rent strike refer to withholding rent payment or does this mean picketing with other residents? What are the legal ramifications considering that we obligated to pay rent on time–as stipulated in the lease? I was planning to withhold rent at least until after the Hearing scheduled for Feb. 2nd.

We invited members of Parkdale Organize and the Parkdale Legal Clinic to answer these questions at our next lobby meeting. Peter attended that meeting and left feeling resolute:

– Today was a good day. I started off nervous but got more sure-footed as [they] explained to me the process and what my worst scenario would be; their accompanying us on the door to door knock was the clincher for me….Thank you all for doing this; I am now confident and committed enough to see this rent strike to the end.

Our rent strike began on February 1. At a mediation hearing the next day the landlord expressed a willingness to negotiate. A week later they sent us eviction notices in the mail. Peter was indignant:

– Yes, I got one. It was sitting in my mailbox this morning when I checked. It shows their bullying nature. They lie that they negotiating in good faith. Yet they still threaten and issue eviction notices. What we are doing is not illegal but, that is the claim.

The eviction notices meant we had 14 days to pay our rent, otherwise the landlord could apply to the Landlord Tenant Board for eviction orders.

At our next meeting Peter spoke persuasively about the importance of staying on rent strike beyond the 14-day deadline, to show the landlord that we would not be intimidated. His words helped carry the day – everyone voted to stay on rent strike. I sent Peter a message of thanks. He replied:

– Thank You. It matters that we stand together to fend off unjustified predation.

The next day Peter sent a message to the entire building flagging the importance of unity and coordination in paying our rent to the landlord, whenever that might end up being:

– I am suggesting that when the time comes for us to pay our rent to Nuspor, that we do it only after we have heard, or have received communication from [our building committee]…We all need to be very clear and, well-coordinated with regard to if, and when we decide to release our rent-cheques to Nuspor. They are playing hard ball, we need to show them that we are thriving, not wilting. The process of paying Nuspor MUST, and SHOULD NOT be haphazard. Stay strong.

As our rent strike entered its fourth week, the landlord reversed course and agreed to meet us with in-person to negotiate a resolution. Many in our building celebrated this as a win. Peter was happy too, but clear-eyed about the next phase of the struggle:

– Good Job team. I sense that Nuspor is now choking on its own greed. Still, it helps to remember that we cannot afford to stumble here even for a moment, as we see them gasp for air. There has never been a better moment for us as tenants to stand more resolute and make our message clearer.

He followed up with a one-liner on fundamentals:

– Just wanted to confirm; no paying rent; attend meeting in the lobby Thursday at 7.00. I am all in.

On March 1 our strike entered its second month. Five days later we met with the landlord’s representatives. They offered to reduce the increase they were seeking by half. We called for a reduction to zero. The meeting ended inconclusively. Soon after the landlord tried to break our strike by delivering letters to each tenant in the building promoting the “reasonableness” of their offer and inviting individual settlements on that basis. Peter was incensed:

– The fact that Nuspor has been sending out letters to individuals has just come to my attention…This tells me that our corrective efforts to help Nuspor improve its behaviour thus far, has not worked. This is to me, shows that Nuspor has not fully understood what ‘Good Faith’ means. Our next response to this arrogance should be tailored to ensure that Nuspor can feel and understand our displeasure to its utmost.

As it happened, a next response wasn’t required because nobody responded to the landlord’s letters. The landlord gave up and withdrew its rent increase application wholesale. Ever on guard, Peter urged people not to pay rent until our victory was confirmed in writing:

– We do nothing till after the lobby meeting and, confirmation from our lawyers that all the ‘i’s have been dotted and all the ‘t’s have been crossed. This is to make sure Nuspor does not have an escape hatch unknown to us; and, if it means a little more bleeding for them, that is fine by me. They have deep pockets.

We took Peter’s advice and formally negotiated a repayment date of May 1 for all rent strikers. Peter was pleased, for more than one reason:

– This news is so fantastic, I actually get ‘my income tax return’ to pay off the February and March rent I owe—at least, 75% of it anyway. And, as the letter shows, Nuspor sounds less arrogant in tone, which is a bonus.

Just as the rent strike concluded, our landlord applied to evict a young couple (and soon-to-be new parents) for alleged harassment. Like Peter, the couple was instrumental in winning the rent strike. They also helped give the strike a public face by agreeing to do media interviews. Evicting them was the landlord’s way of retaliating and attempting to re-establish control over tenants. Peter knew this, and knew what needed to be done to counter it:

– I am really at a loss of words how vindictive these people can get—harassing a family that is already so stressed out; all because they are sore losers? If they want to make [them] an example—in order to deflate our resistance, then it is very simple. [Our neighbour] and his family is us. We stand together in solidarity. [He] and his family’s fight is my fight; it is our fight.

At is turned out, the landlord’s case for eviction was so weak that it was dismissed summarily by the Landlord Tenant Board. Peter couldn’t attend the hearing but shared this message afterward:

– I was nervous about it; was angry because my work schedule could not permit me to be there. But, now I can breathe easily. Congrats to [the family]; congrats to the lawyers who did the heavy lifting. Congrats to Parkdale Legal, to [people in the building] and to the Activists that made the victory real. Thank You; it is a job well-done.

Through his words and his actions during the 1251 King Street rent strike, Peter made a difference in the lives of everyone in our building. He made our apartments more affordable, of course. But he also made us as people more confident and self-respecting, more conscious of our collective power and more willing to use it, creatively and fearlessly, to “fend off unjustified predation”. For that, we are forever grateful to Peter, and forever connected with him.

Organized Tenants Stop Eviction

Today organized tenants successfully stopped an eviction from being carried out in Little Portugal. Timbercreek/Hazelview took ownership of the building less than two months ago and while this eviction was started before they bought the building, they now have a clear decision to make: will they try to drag a single mom and her children out into the cold during a pandemic? Tenants in the building, the neighbourhood and neighbourhoods throughout the city made their position clear today: this family’s life is worth more than Timbercreek/Hazelview’s investments.

Background:
All previous attempts made by the tenant to negotiate repayment of the rent she owes was ignored by the landlord. This despite the fact that the company had only just taken over the building in December 2020 and without regard to the tenant’s family situation. The tenant’s unit is home to her and her children.

In response to the landlord’s reckless intransigence, twenty of us arrived at the building yesterday morning before 8am. We handed out flyers explaining the situation of the tenant facing eviction and warning other tenants about Hazelview’s business model of buying up buildings, evicting the tenants who live there, and raising rents on vacant units. Our message was well received by the tenants we spoke to, some of whom joined our outdoor, socially-distanced gathering and offered to support their neighbour.

A Hazelview property manager who was on site at the building observed our action and quickly called her boss, the company’s regional director. When the Hazelview director arrived on the scene tenants demanded she call off the eviction and regularize the family’s tenancy. Tenants made it clear that by directing the removal of the family by the sheriff Hazelview was creating a situation that would likely result in the death of a member of the tenant’s family. Finally Hazelview called off the sheriff for the day and agreed to enter into negotiations with the tenant regarding repayment of rent.

This situation is not over and Hazelview still holds the threat of eviction over the head of this family. We are hopeful that the situation can be resolved through negotiation. However, we are unwilling to stand by if Hazelview decides to reschedule the removal of this family from their home. We will also be following up with the contacts we made with other tenants in the building to engage them in a process of forming their own tenant organization. Only through self-organization do we as working class people develop the power we need to defend our homes and our neighbours.

Michael Lax: You Won’t Evict our Neighbours!

Yesterday flyers were posted in the neighbourhood of landlord Michael Lax of Nuspor Investments, owner of the high rise apartment building at 1251 King in Parkdale. Flyers were also posted in the area of the private school where Lax is a director. We hope Lax’s neighbours and the families who are part of his school community call on Michael Lax to stop his attacks on our neighbour Theresa.

Lax is evicting Theresa, a single mother and sole caregiver of her son Anthony who is disabled and unable to work. They have lived at the building since 1987.Lax is evicting our neighbours because they were unable to pay for pest control treatments to their unit, despite the fact that pest control is the landlord’s responsibility.

We won’t stand by while Lax’s company makes Theresa and Anthony homeless in the middle of a global pandemic. We care about our neighbours and are prepared to take action to defend them.

We Won’t Abandon Our Schools

In wealthy neighbourhoods across Toronto, in-person enrollment sits at 80-95% for their elementary schools. In working class neighbourhoods like Parkdale, Jane and Finch, Markham and Eglinton and throughout Scarborough, 25-60% is the norm.

So, what do they know that we don’t know? They know that when they keep their kid enrolled, they prevent classes from being collapsed and resources from being removed from the school. They know that if they ever feel unsafe bringing their kid, they won’t. They know that they can push their school for safer conditions while they bring their kid to the parts of the day that they are comfortable with, even if that just means outdoor time.

They know that our kids remain enrolled at their school as long as they attend once out of every 15 days. And they know that they can negotiate conditions of attendance with teachers, principals and superintendents.

Across Parkdale, parents have been changing their enrollment to in-person. Parents can make this change anytime before school starts. Contact your child’s principal or vice-principal today to enroll for in-person classes and fight for safe conditions in our schools.

What OPSEU Workers Can Do About Mass Evictions

Unionized public service workers (members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union) are required at every stage of the eviction process. Without those workers, mass evictions would not be possible. Participating in the eviction of struggling tenants during a health and housing crisis is not a public service.

Your employer may demand you participate in the evictions of your fellow Ontarians but you are not powerless. You have the ability and responsibility as workers to stand with other working class people.

If the LTB opens, OPSEU workers will be needed to: 

• Process eviction applications 
• Schedule eviction hearings
• Coordinate phone or online hearings
• Enforce evictions
• Forcibly remove tenants from their homes

But OPSEU workers can take a stand with struggling tenants if you refuse to participate in evictions. This would be a true public service.

OPSEU members, you can and should organize together as unionized workers to collectively refuse to participate in COVID evictions.

1. Speak to your co-workers.
2. Organize together.
3. Make a plan for action. 

OPSEU members have a critical role to play in supporting and protecting the health and safety of tenants in this province.

If you are an OPSEU member who wants to prevent the mass eviction of tenants due to COVID-19, please reach out to parkdaleorganize at gmail dot com.

Breaking News: Evictions to resume as soon as August 1

“It’s not fair to the neighbours. It’s not fair to the people in the neighbourhoods.”

– Doug Ford on tenant protests and not impending mass evictions, July 7, 2020 

Ford is now moving to end the eviction moratorium at the same time as pushing through Bill 184. This new law enables mass evictions through fast-tracked eviction orders, weakened legal defenses for tenants, punitive measures against tenants who cannot fulfill repayment agreements and favourable consideration for landlords who “attempted to negotiate” a repayment plan with the tenant, regardless of the form that negotiation took.

The Ontario Superior Court has amended its Emergency Order suspending residential evictions. Published today, the amended Order (dated July 6, 2020) suspends residential evictions “until the end of the calendar month in which the state of emergency…is terminated”. With the Ford government aiming to end the state of emergency on July 24, the Order could see evictions resume as early as August 1. 

On the same day that Ford moved to begin the process of evicting families across Toronto, he paradoxically accused tenants of “going after families” when asked about yesterday’s tenant protest outside Mayor John Tory’s condo. He went on to say that anti-eviction protests by tenants are “not fair to the neighbours. It’s not fair to the people in the neighborhoods…  don’t harass families”. But hundreds of thousands of renters across Ontario know that it is landlords, politicians, police and sheriffs who harass neighbours and families in our neighbourhoods. Eviction notices are slid under doors, hearings are held with little protection for tenants. Sheriffs arrive, change the locks and forcibly remove working class people from their homes. 

No matter what Ford and other politicians may claim, the message is clear to tenants: Queen’s Park wants tenants evicted. They feel they’ve waited long enough and they aren’t concerned about making people homeless. Tenants across the city have come together to say that no matter what laws are passed and no matter what Queen’s Park wants, if evictions are attempted in our city we will fight them.

Kill the Mass Eviction Bill: Ford Escalates Threat of Mass Evictions

On July 2, the Ontario government voted to amend Bill 184, the Eviction Bill, in a step towards ensuring mass evictions for Ontario tenants who have been unable to pay rent in full during the COVID-19 crisis. All tenants who have been unable to pay full rent, whether they have signed repayment plans or not, will be affected by this predatory bill. Now heading into its third reading, the amended Bill could be passed into law as early as next week.

The original version of Bill 184 was a direct threat to tenants. The amendments approved in committee today go even further in their attacks.

The government’s proposed changes would allow the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to make quick eviction orders against tenants who were pressured into unmanageable rent repayment agreements by their landlords. The LTB could turn those private agreements into legally binding documents that enable fast-tracked evictions against tenants unable to fulfill them. 

The changes would also direct the LTB to favour landlords in eviction cases where the landlord had “attempted to negotiate” a repayment agreement. No burden of proof is placed on the landlord to show that a meaningful negotiation took place or what the content of a repayment plan should be.

At the beginning of the lockdown in March, Premier Ford promised Ontario tenants that they would not face eviction if they had to choose between putting food on the table and paying rent. With the amended Bill 184, Ford shows he had no intention of keeping that promise. His actions betray his own words and demonstrate a complete disregard for thousands of tenants in Ontario who will soon face eviction and homelessness. 

The Ford government has aggressively pushed landlords’ eviction agenda behind Ontario’s back. These laws increase landlords’ already massive profits by exploiting mass unemployment and the ensuing rent crisis during a pandemic. 

Most ominously the amended Bill 184 is now back-dated to March 17th, the very day that a state of emergency was declared in Ontario. Due to COVID-19, tenants have been forced into a game of Russian roulette of possible infection, job loss, poverty, unmanageable debt, hunger, and homelessness. With the amended Bill 184, the Ontario Government will fill all the chambers and hand the gun to landlords. 

While tenants have waited for any kind of support from any level of government, we are now faced with the likelihood of thousands of tenants in Toronto being dragged from their homes by Sheriffs. If this mass eviction bill is passed, it will allow landlords to unilaterally set terms of repayment and potentially crippling debt for tenants with the full knowledge that if their terms are not met they will easily get eviction orders from the courts with the full consent of the Provincial Government. 

This is nothing short of an attack on the health and safety of thousands of tenants and families across Ontario. Any politician that votes in favour of this Mass Eviction Bill is part of that attack. The hardship it will unleash on tenants will be the responsibility of each MPP who chooses to prioritize full payment of rent to landlords over the lives and homes of tenants.  

Toronto Tenants Demand No COVID Evictions

Yesterday hundreds of working class people marched through downtown Toronto, rallying at Queen’s Park before marching to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Tenants from Malton, Etobicoke, Jane and Finch, Parkdale, East York, and Scarborough were united in their demands for a permanent ban on evictions and forced collection of unpaid rent during the months of the COVID crisis and for landlords to agree to negotiate with tenants’ organizations.

Tenants warned that if landlords and the government try to evict any one of us they will be met with the organized resistance of tenants from across our city.

The event took the health and safety of participants seriously. Social distancing was strictly followed by all. At the rally at Queen’s Park attendees stood in a grid formation to maintain 2 metres (6.5 feet) of distance between each person at all times. Tenants refused to contribute to the transmission of COVID-19 in our neighbourhoods which have been among the areas hardest hit by infections of the virus.

Tenants’ speeches underlined that the day’s action was not the end of their work. In fact, they said it was just the beginning. No one has tenants’ backs – not landlords, not the government, not the advocates and experts. We have to organize ourselves in our buildings and neighbourhoods across our city.