Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive
A Digital Archive of Feminist Activism
The Coalition for Fair Wages and Working Conditions for Homeworkers was established in the fall of 1991 in Toronto. The Coalition’s main objectives were to fight for fair wages and working conditions for homeworkers, assist in homeworkers’ organizing, educate the public, lobby for better legislative protections for homeworkers, and build a campaign to stop the exploitation of women workers.
The Coalition for Fair Wages and Working Conditions for Homeworkers formed in November 1991 after completion of a major research project conducted by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). The research showed that homeworkers were not receiving minimum wage, worked in hazardous conditions, and did not receive many of the basic employment standards of other workers. The Coalition initiated action with a lobby to Queen’s Park to demand that the Ontario government make immediate changes to the Employment Standards Act to ensure fair wages and working conditions for homeworkers. The Coalition launched the Clean Clothes Campaign in 1993 to end the exploitation of homeworkers by Canadian clothing retailers.
Active members of the coalition represented a broad range of groups: the ILGWU, the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice, the Workers’ Information and Action Centre of Toronto, Women Working with Immigrant Women, Parkdale Community Legal Services, York University’s Centre for Research on Work and Society, Mujer a Mujer, the Employment and Economy Committee of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto and York Region, and the Cross Cultural Communications Centre.
