Wednesday 28 July 2010
Toronto Street Vendors Seek G20 Compensation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - from Marianne Moroney of the Toronto Street Food Vendors Association
Street food vendors shut out of G20 security zone
Vendors and families face weeks without work or options
Toronto, June 17, 2010 – Street food vendors who work in the area now designated as the G20 security zone are being forced to stop work for up to 19 days without any guaranteed compensation.
While the government is spending over a billion dollars for the G8 and G20 summits, street food vendors and their families are being asked to live without income for almost three weeks during their busiest, most profitable season.
“We understand the need for security for the G20, and the need for a security zone,” says Marianne Moroney, Executive Director of the Street Food Vendor Association (SFVA) that advocates for the rights of street food vendors.
“What we don’t understand is why these people whose families depend on a small spot on the street are simply kicked out, given no options or alternate places to vend and must live with that for three solid weeks. The move to stop their work is heavy-handed and repressive. This is their livelihood, and this outrageous.”
“If the government was compassionate and conscientious and not simply concerned about our global city image, they would have provided a guaranteed compensation package. Again, the little guys are left to fend for themselves.”
Moroney said the SFVA will support the affected vendors in their demand for the right to work and for compensation for any time that they are forced not to work. She said that it’s clear that it is an excessively long period of time to ask people to go without work. She said vendors are among the most vulnerable working populations in the city.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS, CONTACT:
Marianne Moroney,
Executive Director
SFVA
TEL 416-364-5066
E-M info.sfva@gmail.com
WEB www.sfva.ca
Street food vendors shut out of G20 security zone
Vendors and families face weeks without work or options
Toronto, June 17, 2010 – Street food vendors who work in the area now designated as the G20 security zone are being forced to stop work for up to 19 days without any guaranteed compensation.
While the government is spending over a billion dollars for the G8 and G20 summits, street food vendors and their families are being asked to live without income for almost three weeks during their busiest, most profitable season.
“We understand the need for security for the G20, and the need for a security zone,” says Marianne Moroney, Executive Director of the Street Food Vendor Association (SFVA) that advocates for the rights of street food vendors.
“What we don’t understand is why these people whose families depend on a small spot on the street are simply kicked out, given no options or alternate places to vend and must live with that for three solid weeks. The move to stop their work is heavy-handed and repressive. This is their livelihood, and this outrageous.”
“If the government was compassionate and conscientious and not simply concerned about our global city image, they would have provided a guaranteed compensation package. Again, the little guys are left to fend for themselves.”
Moroney said the SFVA will support the affected vendors in their demand for the right to work and for compensation for any time that they are forced not to work. She said that it’s clear that it is an excessively long period of time to ask people to go without work. She said vendors are among the most vulnerable working populations in the city.
-30-
FOR MORE INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS, CONTACT:
Marianne Moroney,
Executive Director
SFVA
TEL 416-364-5066
E-M info.sfva@gmail.com
WEB www.sfva.ca
# posted by Taodhg @ 2:11 pm 
