The provincial NDP are calling for the government to give workers 10 employer-paid sick days, and to make them permanent.
It's in response to the province extending its paid sick leave program until the end of March 2023, allowing residents who miss work due to COVID-19 to have three days off.
Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky says since the beginning pandemic they've been calling for more paid sick days, to give workers the opportunity to protect themselves and their work places.
She says many workers had to make difficult choices to keep their roofs over their heads and feed their families, which sometimes meant going to work sick.
"What we saw for the first year or two of the pandemic was COVID-19 spreading rampantly, especially in workplaces like in manufacturing plants and food processing plants, and people were dying," Gretzky said.
COVID cases have risen recently in Ontario, with several leading epidemiologists and the province’s science advisory table calling it a seventh wave.
Many health officials have warned about the potential for a larger surge in the fall, which Gretzky says is all the more reason to try and give workers more help ahead of time.
"So that workers can stay home and get better, not spread the virus and keep their families and communities safe. But still be able to afford to stay home, pay the bills and put food on the table for their families."
In the last legislative session the NDP tried to pass a bill through unanimous consent to get more paid sick days immediately, but the PC government didn't support it.
Gretzky doesn't expect them to change directions in the upcoming session, but believes a public outcry among workers and employers to bring them in could have an impact.
"I think the push is there and we just need to continue that pressure on the government because that is the way you get governments to change directions," she continued. "And I think it's important to point out too that there are many employers who already stepped up on their own and were providing paid sick days to employees because they knew that was the right thing to do."
The NDP are calling for the government to pass London-West MPP Peggy Sattler's Stay Home If You Are Sick Act as soon as the Legislature returns.
They're asking residents in support of more paid sick days to raise their voices and reach out to their MPPs on the issue.