Ontario files labour board application to stop job action as education workers begin strike
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-cupe-strike-bill-28/
Ontario files labour board application to stop job action as education workers begin strike
JEFF GRAY - QUEEN'S PARK REPORTER
CAROLINE ALPHONSO - EDUCATION REPORTER
DUSTIN COOK - QUEEN'S PARK REPORTER
PUBLISHED YESTERDAY
UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
The Ontario government filed an application with the labour board to stop job action from a union of 55,000 education support workers who walked off the job on Friday to defy the passing of a bill that stripped them of their right to strike.
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On Thursday, Ontario used the Constitutions notwithstanding clause to strip an education workers union of its right to strike in an attempt to avoid disrupting classrooms. However, many schools were closed Friday, and more than a million students were at home, as the union defied the government and walked out.
After contract talks broke off Thursday, the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford passed fast-tracked legislation that imposes a contract on the union, a wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees that acts for 55,000 education assistants, custodians and other support staff. About 30 CUPE members, including union leaders, chanted shame from the public galleries during the vote, before being escorted out. Mr. Ford was absent.
Several large school boards, including the Toronto District School Board, have closed schools, leaving parents scrambling for child care. Under the legislation, the union and its members face the threat of hefty fines for striking: up to $4,000 a day for individual members and up to $500,000 a day for the union, which has said it will cover those costs and attempt to fight the fines in court.
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