That means school will be back in business — for now. Representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said at a press conference Monday that Ford had committed in writing and that both sides would resume contract negotiations. Leaders from many other public and private sector unions were also present. A statement from Education Minister Stephen Lecce confirmed that the government will repeal Bill 28 “in its entirety”. The law included a preemption clause for any constitutional challenge to the legislation. The clause allows lawmakers to override parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term. “CUPE has agreed to withdraw the strike and return to the negotiating table. In return, at the first opportunity, we will withdraw Bill 28 in its entirety and be on the table so that children can return to the classroom after two difficult years ” said Lecce. The legislature is not currently in session, so MPPs will have to be called early to repeal the law this week. Ford announced earlier in the day that he was willing to scrap the law, but only if CUPE ended its strike, which has closed hundreds of in-person learning schools across the province. WATCHES | Ford appeals to CUPE to end Bill 28 protest:
Ontario is poised to scrap its anti-strike law if CUPE ends the strike
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will repeal a controversial law to end the education workers’ strike if the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) ends the ongoing strike.
The decision of the works council is pending
Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Union Council, says she hopes the union’s “good faith” gesture to end its walkout will be met with similar good faith from the government at the bargaining table. CUPE members walked off the job despite the law prohibiting them from doing so, and the government had taken them to the Ontario Labor Relations Board over the legality of the job action. A decision is still pending. CUPE members and supporters rallied outside Queen’s Park in Toronto on Monday. (Carlos Osorio/CBC) Walton said CUPE education workers would return to work on Tuesday, although it was up to individual school boards to decide when to reopen schools closed due to the protest. He added that CUPE is willing to strike if renewed negotiations collapse. Several Ontario school boards, including the Toronto District School Board and the York District School Board, say they plan to reopen for in-person learning on Tuesday. Parents should check their school board’s website for the latest on this front. Mark Hancock, national president of CUPE, said Bill 28 was a “backlash that united the labor movement like never before” and praised education workers, 70% of whom are women, for their commitment to protest. “They took over the Ford administration and the administration blinked,” Hancock said. “We have shown that when attacked, our movement is strong and we will defend each other.” “When you come for one of us, you come for all of us,” added JP Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). “Workers, united, will shut down this province whenever necessary.”
Ford says the government has “no choice” in Bill 28
Speaking earlier, Ford said he had no regrets about passing Bill 28 and that his government “had no choice”. He added that after two years of pandemic-related disruption to learning, CUPE’s strike threat called for “unprecedented solutions”. Both the government and CUPE accused the other side of walking away from the negotiating table. The government initially offered raises of two percent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 percent for everyone else, but the four-year deal mandated by Bill 28 would give workers 2.5 percent annual raises who make less than $43,000 and 1.5 percent per cent raises for everyone else. CUPE said the framework is not accurate because the increases actually depend on hourly wages and pay scales, so the majority of workers earning less than $43,000 in a year would not get 2.5 percent. CUPE said its workers, who make an average of $39,000 a year, are generally the lowest paid in schools and were asking for annual wage increases of 11.7 percent. The union said it had more than halved its wage proposal in a counteroffer it made to the government last week and was making “substantial” moves in other areas as well.
