'The government blinked': Union to end Ontario education walkout after Ford promises to repeal strik

Also: Ontario to repeal new law threatening workers’ right to strike following pushback (The Guardian)

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Source: CBC News

'The government blinked': Union to end Ontario education walkout after Ford promises to repeal strike law

Education minister says Bill 28 will be repealed 'in its entirety'

CBC News · Posted: Nov 07, 2022 5:59 AM ET | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

A union representing some 55,000 Ontario education workers who walked off the job Friday says protest sites "will be collapsed" starting Tuesday and workers will be back after Premier Doug Ford said he will repeal legislation that imposed a contract and banned them from striking.

That means school will be back in session — for now.

Representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said at a news conference Monday that Ford had put his commitment in writing, and that both sides would restart contract negotiations. Leaders from numerous other public- and private-sector unions were also in attendance.

A statement from Minister of Education Stephen Lecce confirmed that the government will repeal Bill 28 "in its entirety." The law included the notwithstanding clause to circumvent any constitutional challenge to the legislation. The clause allows legislatures to override parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

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Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cupe-strike-labour-board-ruling-expected-1.6642824

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Source: The Guardian

Ontario to repeal new law threatening workers’ right to strike following pushback

Major reversal for the Canadian province’s conservative government follows days of immense political pressure

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Mon 7 Nov 2022 19.05 GMT
Last modified on Mon 7 Nov 2022 19.12 GMT

Ontario has announced it will fully repeal controversial legislation that undermined workers’ right to strike, in a major reversal for the province’s conservative government following days of immense political pressure – and the looming threat of a general strike.

Nearly 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees walked out on Friday after the conservative government of the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, introduced legislation that would unilaterally impose a contract on education workers, and levy hefty fines for striking. But on Monday morning, union leaders announced they would end their protest “in a gesture of good faith” following the conservative government’s abrupt turnaround.


Flanked by labour leaders from across the country, Mark Hancock, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (Cupe), said education workers had emerged victorious in their standoff, calling Ford’s attempt to break the strikes as a “regressive attack” that “united the labour movement like never before”.

“[Union members] took on the government – and the government blinked,” he said.

Ontario fast-tracked passage of Bill 28, which would have fined striking workers C$4,000 ($2,955; £2,260) for every day on strike and imposed penalties of C$500,000 a day on a striking union.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/07/ontario-repeal-law-right-to-strike