The Ontario government has filed an application with the province’s labour board to stop job action by thousands of education workers who walked off the job on Nov. 4.
“Immediately following proclamation of the Keeping Students in Class Act, we filed a submission to the Ontario Labour Relations Board in response to CUPE’s [Canadian Union of Public Employees’] illegal strike action,” Lecce said.
“Nothing matters more right now than getting all students in the classroom and we will use every tool available to us to do so.”
Education workers represented by CUPE gathered at politicians’ offices Friday, including at Lecce’s constituency office in Vaughan, Ontario. A large crowd also picketed at the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park.
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.
CUPE has demanded an annual wage increase of 11.7 percent as well as overtime at twice the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and ECEs. On Oct. 30, it gave the Ontario government five days’ notice, saying educational workers would go on strike if its demands were not met.
CUPE said on Nov. 3 that it made a final offer of about half of what was originally proposed, which would be about a 6 percent wage increase.
The government originally offered raises of two percent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 percent for all others, but Lecce said the four-year deal would give 2.5 percent annual wage increases to workers making less than $43,000 and 1.5 percent raises for all others.
CUPE has said that way of framing it is not accurate because the wage increases actually depend on hourly wages and pay scales, so the majority of workers who earn less than $43,000 in a year wouldn’t get 2.5 percent.
The union said the strike will continue for an indefinite time, and many school boards across Ontario have announced school closures or a shift to online learning.
Lecce described the protest as “an unprecedented challenge on children.”
“Children should not pay the price for an education union’s desire for higher pay. It’s just not right.”
Bill 28 has set out fines for violating a prohibition on strikes of up to $4,000 per employee per day, or up to $500,000 for the union.
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