With files from The Canadian Press
A rally organized by the Barrie and District Labour Council (BDLC) against the Ontario government's legislation to impose a contract on 55,000 education workers took place Tuesday afternoon.
Individuals representing several unions including the Canadian Union of Public Employees gathered outside the constituency office of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey.
"We're demanding Doug Ford keep his hands off of workers' rights," says BDLC president Michele MacDonald. "Not just allow CUPE, but anyone who is in the public service to be able to negotiate a fair and free collective agreement, and not to be imposing."
The Ontario government introduced legislation Monday to impose a contract on CUPE's education workers -- including librarians, custodians and early childhood educators -- and avert a strike that was set to start Friday.
CUPE has said it will explore every avenue to fight the bill, but the government said it intends to use the notwithstanding clause to keep the eventual law in force despite any constitutional challenges. The clause allows the legislature to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.
The union has said its education worker members will walk off the job in a provincewide protest Friday despite the legislation.
MacDonald says the government's bill sets a dangerous precedent for anyone who has a collective agreement to negotiate going forward.
"Anytime the government feels they don't want to negotiate or feel they have done all they can, they will just impose contracts on people," she says.
The government had been offering raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the new, four-year deal would give 2.5 per cent annual raises to workers making less than $43,000 and 1.5 per cent raises for all others.
CUPE has said its workers, which make on average $39,000 a year, are generally the lowest paid in schools and it has been seeking annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent.
More than 96 per cent of CUPE's education worker members voted in favour of a strike.
Several boards said they would close schools Friday in response to a walkout by education workers.
So far, no word on what the public board and the catholic board in Simcoe County will do.
The notwithstanding clause — or Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability, through the passage of a law, to override certain portions of the charter for a five-year term.
Premier Doug Ford invoked the notwithstanding clause in June 2021 -- for the first time in the province's history -- to restore parts of the Election Finances Act that had previously been declared unconstitutional, enforcing a rule that third parties could only spend $600,000 on advertising in the 12 months before an election is called. The government argued the move was necessary to protect elections from outside influence, while critics accused the government of trying to silence criticism.
A judge upheld the advertising restrictions last December after a coalition of labour groups challenged the measure in court.
Ford had previously threatened to use the clause in 2018, when his government intended to slash Toronto city council seats during a municipal election. That attempt sparked outrage but the clause ultimately wasn’t invoked because of how a related court process unfolded.
Banner image from Barrie and District Labour Council
