Ontario Education Workers Go on Strike Despite Province Declaring It Illegal
Hundreds of education workers have taken to the streets in Ontario in the morning of Nov. 4, despite a bill passed by the provincial legislature a day earlier making it an illegal strike.
Education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are gathered at politicians’ offices, including at the Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s constituency office in Vaughan, Ont. A large crowd is also picketing at the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park.
Queen’s Park!https://t.co/8JhKzS1Zua#onpoli #onted #canlab @osbcucscso pic.twitter.com/qOIeBFyycF
— CUPE Ontario (@CUPEOntario) November 4, 2022
A day earlier, the Ontario government passed Bill 28, the Keeping Students in Class Act, which imposed a four-year contract on the roughly 55,000 CUPE workers. The bill also applies a notwithstanding clause, which lets the provincial legislature override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to address disputes involving school board employees….