Interrogating Work-Integrated Learning

Yesterday I appeared before the Standing Committee on Social Policy at Queen's Park to comment on Peggy Sattler's Private Member's Bill: the Learning Through Workplace Experience Act, 2014. It's a piece of legislation focused on work-integrated learning, which is catch-all term for various work-induction programs that students engage in during academic studies (think co-ops, internships, practicums). 

Over the past three years there have been at least three deaths in Canada linked to work-integrated learning programs. In Alberta, Andy Ferguson died in a collision with a tractor-trailer truck after working an overnight shift at a radio station. Wayne Affleck, an apprentice electrician, was electrocuted while on a work-placement as part of his program with St. Clair College. Earlier this month, Aaron Murray, a student at Loyalist College, died after working a night shift as part of an unpaid internship at Trent University.

It's clear in my mind that the Ontario Government doesn't have a handle on the growing problems associated with work-integrated learning and unsurprisingly there are a growing chorus of groups calling for action to adequately protect students during the school-to-labour market transition. There aren't any easy answers in all of this and going forwards it's necessary to parse out the various issues, but at the core we certainly need measures that provides students with enforceable rights, independent oversight, and access to recourse. As I stated at the committee, the starting point should be a full review of every work-integrated learning program in Ontario, which is the approach the Alberta government took in the wake of Andy Ferguson's death.

My full unedited comments appear below. I should note that I asked a series of questions and I will post these exchanges here once Hansard is updated.

A. Introduction

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Standing Committee on Social Policy to comment on the proposed Learning Through Workplace Experience Act, 2014.

By way of introduction, I’m a lawyer who mainly practices in the areas of employment and human rights law. I hold a Master of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and my graduate research there focused on the legal regulation of the school to labour transition.

I have always been a strong proponent of work-integrated learning and I welcome this chance to offer comments on the legislation.

B. The Legislation

I would like the commend the member on the Learning Through Workplace Experience Act, 2014. It’s a well-conceived piece of legislation and I’m sure that it will receive support from all parties. 

The critical thing that this legislation does is set up an Advisory Council on Work-Integrated Learning. This is a sorely needed development given the growing prominence of work-integrated learning in Ontario’s post-secondary education system. Simply put, currently there isn’t a forum that brings together stakeholders to specifically address the multitude of issues arising from work-integrated learning.

This legislation is a step-forward in getting a handle on work-integrated learning and bringing together the key groups within the post-secondary education system. The Advisory Council on Work-Integrated Learning would be a welcome new voice in post-secondary education in Ontario.

C. Lack of Workplace Law Protections

Students engaged in work-integrated learning and experiential education often lack critical workplace protections. I’m going to run through a high-level overview of these exclusions.

Under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 ("the ESA"), students are targeted by two exclusions. The first, under s. 3(5) completely excludes high-school, college, and university students from all of the protections under the ESA in the context of mandatory work-integrated learning programs. The second, under s. 2(1) of O. Reg. 285/01 excludes professional trainees in enumerated profession, like law and teaching, from the ESA protections related to minimum wage, overtime pay, and hours of work.

Students engaged in unpaid labour are completely excluded from the Occupational Health and Safety Act ("the OHSA") due to the need for a worker to receive “monetary compensation” to attract protections granted under OHSA. This exclusion under OHSA is extremely powerful and excludes a large number of young people engaged in the school-to-labour market transition. It should be noted that Minister Naqvi, in his previous capacity as Minister of Labour, did include reforms aimed at ending this exclusion in Bill 146, Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2013.

Workers’ compensation protection for secondary and post-secondary students is spotty under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act ("the WSIA"). While students receive protection under the WSIA for mandatory work-integrated learning and experiential education activities, any non-mandatory or voluntary programs do not attract protection under WSIA. This creates a situation where students are being left vulnerable to the possibility that critical injuries would go uncompensated in certain cases or they would have to resort to litigation to recover compensation.

The deaths of Aaron Murray here in Ontario and Andy Ferguson in Alberta highlight how students undertaking unpaid internships in the context of academic programs face heightened risks.

D. Concerns Regarding Work-Integrated Learning

Already employers are replacing paid employees with students required to undertake unpaid labour. This is most evident in the hospitality industry and it’s certainly a growing problem that needs to be addressed. 

Work-integrated learning has growth in popularity over the past two decades in Ontario, but one wonders why students need to take unpaid internships which involve cleaning hotel rooms, bussing tables, or conducting security patrols. It strikes me that a fair amount of the work-integrated learning requirements are excessive and unnecessary.

There’s the reality that students from historically-marginalized communities have a reduced ability to undertake unpaid labour and face a new glass ceiling in certain industries.

There are also deep gendered divisions within work-integrated learning, certainly one sees excessive demands for unpaid labour in traditionally female dominated academic programs like teaching, nutrition, social work, and nursing.

There is also a concern that training costs are being shifted onto the backs of students and their families. Canadian employers already spend half of what American employers do on training, a shift towards unpaid positions further exacerbates this trend.

All of these concerns give me pause when contemplating how work-integrated learning is currently being deployed in Ontario.

E. The Situation Facing Young People In Ontario

The exploitation of students and young workers who are in an unequal position with respect to bargaining power and thus relatively defenceless against the denial of a living wage is not only detrimental to their health and well being, but casts a direct burden for their support upon the wider community.

The rise of unpaid internships, temp agencies, low-wage service jobs all represent aspects of the increasingly rocky school-to-labour market transition that many youths endure in Ontario’s post-financial crisis economy. This economy is characterized by high youth unemployment, a disturbing level of underemployment, stagnant wages for most young workers, growth in precarious employment, heightened insecurity about employment prospects, and a pervasive sense that things are getting worse. Young people fear that they have deemed expendable as they fall further and further behind what previous generations have achieved. This fear is justified as so many young people struggle to secure a steady toe-hold in the labour market and cannot achieve any semblance of social or economic security.

Beyond the worries arising from the labour market, young people have a range of deeper pressures in their lives. The cost of housing is skyrocketing, tuition fees for post-secondary education have risen unabated for the better part of two decades, and childcare remains unaffordable for many young families. All of these trends point to an abject lack of intergenerational equity in Ontario. The generational spending gap is becoming more pronounced and there is the distinct possibility that Ontario is setting itself up for future economic damage arising from the failure to make the necessary investments, today, in young people and their families.

Going forward, I urge all of you and your colleagues to address the growing structural problems related to the school-to-labour market transition; furthermore, I urge the political parties here in Ontario to consider implementation of ameliorative policies to address Ontario’s growing deficit in intergenerational equity and begin to close the intergenerational spending gap. A critical piece in addressing intergenerational equity is ensuring that young people have access to adequate protections during the school-to-labour market transition. 

Thank you, those are all my comments for today. I’m happy to answer any questions that you may have.