Photo courtesy of Andrew Cash

Anqi Shen
CUP Ontario Bureau Chief

HAMILTON (CUP) — A private member’s bill has been tabled in the House of Commons to clarify the rules around unpaid internships and explore pension options for urban workers.

Andrew Cash, federal MP for the Toronto-area constituency of Davenport, introduced Bill C-542 in the House of Commons for consideration. If approved, it would strike a federal task force to look at job security and benefits for workers with a fluctuating income.

The bill specifically addresses a growing sector of “urban workers” — including those working multiple part-time jobs, interning, working for temp agencies and freelancing.

“What binds all of these people together — this very diverse group of workers — is they can’t access a workplace pension, have no job security and usually have no access to benefits,” Cash said.

Cash wants the task force to increase access to employment insurance for urban workers, enhance the Canada Pension Plan and look at other low-cost pension options that produce a minimum guaranteed benefit.

“I think there was a point 40 years ago where [urban workers] made up a small group in the economy. We now know in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area], about 50 per cent of workers cannot access a stable, full-time job,” MPP Cash said.

A United Way Toronto study released in February 2013 found “barely half” of workers in the GTA and Hamilton have permanent, full-time positions with benefits.

Cash also referenced “growing intergenerational inequity” where young workers may enter a company with an understanding that they have no access to a pension, while other workers with seniority at the same company have a defined pension.

“An Ontario university grad will have an average debt of $37,000 and we’re inviting them into an economy where large for-profit organizations are trying to say, you have to work for free,” he said.

Cash said the bill would upon the federal government “to enforce the rules and enhance labour standards where the rules aren’t clear” for unpaid and precarious work.

It is uncertain when the bill will be voted on in the House of Commons, which follows an order of precedence system.