Toronto Protest – CUPE Ontario has announced that it will call on its 55,000 education members to participate in a province-wide walkout on Friday to protest the legislation that was passed by the government of Doug Ford to outlaw its planned strike and impose a four-year contract. By using the notwithstanding the provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Keeping Students in Class Act, which the government plans to have in effect by this coming Friday, strips workers of their right to collective bargaining and job action.
After announcing a five-day countdown to a strike, the government made an improved offer to the union on Sunday, but it was rejected, according to Education Minister Stephen Lecce. The union, however, did not accept the offer
“We made a more substantial offer. We pleaded with you to refrain from doing that. According to what Lecce stated on Monday, “We actually told them yesterday that we will move forward with legislation should you proceed because we will not tolerate a day of a strike.”
“And it’s sad that we’re here because I think the majority of parents would have preferred a deal that all sides could have consented to,” she continued, “but I think the metric of success when it comes to parents, or the benchmark by which they’re going to evaluate this bill, is going to be whether or not their kids will be in school.”
The union negotiators and provincial negotiators are far apart, particularly when it comes to the topic of wages. CUPE wanted yearly wage increases of 11.7%, which the government replied with 2% annually for members earning less than $40,000 and 1.25% annually for the remainder of the workers. CUPE’s demands were met with a compromise of 11.7% annually.
CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) President Laura Walton stated that union members intend to walk off the job in protest on Friday, and that they are completely committed to both further negotiations and a strike even if the law is in place.
Walton expressed anxiety about the potential outcomes, saying, “I’m afraid about the ramifications that will ensue if we don’t fight back.” It is going to be devastating to the services that my child and millions of other children have in our public school system if this law is allowed to be passed because there is going to be a major exodus of education employees that is going to happen. Any individual who violates the Act might be fined up to $4,000 per day, and the union could be fined up to $500,000 per day, for a total of a maximum of $220 million per day in fines.
According to Walton, CUPE Ontario education workers, which includes educational assistants, school office personnel, and maintenance workers, have been assured that they will have the financial backing of their union moving forward. Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, referred to the action taken by the government as the “nuclear option,” and he warned that the whole force of the labor movement will be brought to bear on Ford’s Conservatives.
Hahn stated that what the administration did today is completely unacceptable. “This is an outrageous misuse of authority.”
As a form of protest against the bill, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) made the announcement that it will pause its own collective bargaining. According to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the “notwithstanding clause” was never intended to be used to the process of collective bargaining.
When asked if he was concerned about attracting the fury of the broader labor movement in Ontario over the suspension of collective bargaining, Lecce stated that the law was carefully structured to apply just to the CUPE Ontario contract. He was asked if he was concerned about this. Walton stated that the union was still prepared to deal over the next several days, but Lecce stated that the legislation will impose the government’s contract offer regardless of whether or not the union is ready to negotiate.
Photo Credit: torontosun
News from snbc13.com