Ontario education minister says province has ‘no tolerance for disruption’ as hearing to determine legality of education worker walkout continues this weekend .
A government lawyer argued Saturday at the hearing that the Ontario Labor Relations Board risks undermining the province’s labor laws if it does not declare illegal a strike by 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Workers. public service (CUPE).
“Ensuring that an illegal strike is not allowed to continue is a very important labor relations objective, and failure to exercise your discretion to do so would significantly undermine the very clear prohibition on strike activity which is a key feature of the Labor Relations Act,” said Ferina Merji.
Thousands of education workers, including education assistants, custodians and librarians, walked off work on Friday to protest the government’s passage of a law banning strikes and imposing a four-year contract year.
The Progressive Conservative government has included the notwithstanding clause in its Education Workers Act, saying it intends to use it to guard against constitutional challenges.
“We have zero tolerance for disruption. We’ve been very clear this summer through the catch-up plan, kids need to stay in school,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce told CBC News on Saturday. .
Lecce said the government had no choice but to press ahead with legislation to avoid a strike and keep students in classrooms after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning in recent years. .
WATCH | Lecce says the province will continue to use all tools to open schools:
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the provincial government will use the means at its disposal to end the walkout of education workers represented by CUPE.
Laura Walton, president of CUPE Ontario’s School Board Council of Unions, said the Ontario government was negotiating “in bad faith.”
“The fact that they were working on this legislation before strike notice was provided should tell the people of Ontario all you need to know,” Walton told CBC News on Saturday.
“They had no intention of bargaining in good faith. In fact, coming to a table and saying that if you don’t take away your right to strike, we’re not going to negotiate is really… the definition of bad faith bargaining. . »
Province says work stoppage equals strike
CUPE argues that the industrial action is a political protest rather than a strike.
He argued in his board papers that the purpose of his members’ action is “to express opposition through political protest against the [province’s] decision to trample on the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike of employees, protected by the Constitution. »
“Whatever label someone gives the activity, Mr. President, it is a work stoppage. And a work stoppage, by any other name, always equals a work stoppage and therefore a strike, period,” Merji told the hearing. .
Merji said the government’s conduct at the bargaining table is irrelevant to an illegal strike claim and instead falls under an unfair labor practice complaint.
Merji said such a walkout is illegal because the Labor Relations Act prohibits work stoppages while contracts are in effect, and argued that CUPE management knowingly advised education workers to engage in an illegal strike.
WATCH | A CUPE representative reacts to the Minister of Education’s remarks:
Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said the provincial government was “working harder on legislation than negotiations” with the union that represents education workers.
She released a video of CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn saying the union would offer the same benefits to workers as in any strike.
Merji also shared a video of Laura Walton, president of the CUPE Ontario School Board Council of Unions, comparing the walkout to the one that was planned in 2019. At the time, CUPE and the government reached a last-minute deal the day before the departure of the workers. go on an all-out strike.
CUPE initially requested that Lecce and Andrew Davis, the assistant deputy minister, be called to testify before the board.
Council chairman Brian O’Byrne ruled that Lecce was exempt from giving evidence due to parliamentary privilege, but said Davis could be called as a witness.
But after hours of delay, a lawyer for CUPE said he would not ask Davis to provide evidence because documents the union also wanted to submit as evidence could not be made available.
What CUPE workers are protesting
CUPE workers walked out on Friday, what they called the start of an indefinite walkout to protest the government’s passage of the controversial legislation. Members of other unions, including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and Unifor, also joined the picketers.
British Columbia Teachers’ Federation announcement Saturday afternoon he voted to send $1 million so CUPE members “wouldn’t have to back down.”
The government’s new law set fines for violating the strike ban of up to $4,000 per employee per day – which could amount to $220 million for all 55,000 workers – and up to $4,000 per employee per day. at $500,000 a day for the union. CUPE said it would fight the fines, but would also pay them if necessary.
The solidarity demonstration begins on Saturday
On Saturday, education workers and supporters took over Yonge and Dundas in Toronto and other busy intersections across the province to show their solidarity with CUPE in the ongoing labor action.
“We know everyone has the right to negotiate,” Ned Sharp, a York Region District School Board teacher, said at the rally.
The walkout has led the vast majority of school boards across the province to end in-person learning, with many saying they upgrade to full e-learning next week if the industrial action continues.
School closures have also impacted childcare arrangements for thousands of parents across Ontario, with many scrambling to find last-minute babysitters or time off work to help their children learn remotely.
While students should be in class, she says they should only be in school with the appropriate supports that CUPE education workers help provide.
“There’s not enough money for them, there’s not enough time for them, there’s not enough in any of our schools. And we have to make this change because the teachers cannot work without our education workers with us.”
The impact of the walkout on parents and students
Traci Clarke, parent, volunteer and member of the special education advisory committee in Ottawa, agrees.
She has a 19-year-old son with autism and says when schools closed she gave him the choice of learning online or accompanying his father, an educator, to the nearest picket line.
“He’s done with e-learning. He never wants to do it again,” Clarke said.
WATCH | Parents in Ontario explain how the education worker walkout impacted their families:
Two parents in the province discuss the ongoing dispute between the Ontario government and the union representing education workers and how it affects their children.
Heather Donovan, mother of a 12-year-old who has been diagnosed with dyslexia, says her son also struggles to learn online.
While she understands why the workers are on strike, she says she wonders if everything has been done to prevent this from happening.
“Everyone is struggling and that’s the last thing our kids need right now,” Donovan said.
“I just think it was such a drastic decision and there weren’t enough other options.”
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