Ontario education workers announce mass walkout amid back-to-work legislation

A union representing tens of thousands of school support workers is vowing to hold a province-wide day of protest on Friday, even as the government formally tables legislation intended to block them from striking.

A union representing tens of thousands of school support workers is vowing to hold a province-wide day of protest on Friday, even as the government formally tables legislation intended to block them from striking.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce preventively tabled legislation on Monday afternoon which will “terminate any on-going strike” by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and instead impose a new four-year collective agreement on the approximately 55,000 members represented by the union.

But in a news conference held at Queen’s Park following the tabling of the “Keeping Students in Schools Act,” CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn promised that school support staff still intend to walk off the job on Friday as part of a day of protest.

At this point it remains unclear whether the planned job action will continue on Monday. Asked about the possibility of a prolonged wildcat strike, the president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions Laura Walton would only say that “will be left up to what happens.”

CUPE represents approximately 55,000 school support staff, including custodians, early childhood educators, education assistants, and administration staff

“On Friday, regardless of what this legislation says our members will be engaging in a province-wide protest. That means no CUPE education workers will be at work. Instead we will be taking a stand for public education for ourselves and for our future,” Hahn said. “Our union and others have been effective in challenging governments in the courts and we won but all too late for workers. Enough is enough. We may in fact challenge this in court but we are first going to challenge it in our communities. We are not going to allow our rights to be legislated away.”

The move to introduce back-to-work legislation comes one day after CUPE provided the required five days of notice to formally begin job action.