Simcoe County education workers from two unions went on strike today with their peers from across the province, not only because of failed contract negotiations, but also because of new legislation passed by the province to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In front of Simcoe-Grey MPP Brian Saunderson’s Stayner constituency office, workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) formed a picket line on Nov. 4. They were supported by union leaders from the Simcoe County Elementary Teachers’ Federation (the local chapter of the provincial union representing elementary teachers).
While the strike is by CUPE members, a move by the government to pass legislation forcing CUPE to take the contract and making strike action illegal has prompted OPSEU members to also get involved. Members walked out on Nov. 4 to join the CUPE picket lines.
In Simcoe County, CUPE represents custodial staff and OPSEU represents educational assistants, library staff, and IT workers.
OPSEU Local 330 secretary Donna Caissie said the government’s handling of the situation amounts to “dictatorship.”
“It’s a sad, sad day for all of Ontario, not just education workers, because this bill is going to trickle down to any unionized worker in Ontario, so it’s going to affect more than just us,” said Caissie, highlighting the fact all education union contracts expired on Aug. 31 and so all will be at the bargaining table with the province over the coming months.
She noted the education workers represented by CUPE and OPSEU are some of the lowest-paid in the province.
“Many members of OPSEU have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet,” said the educational assistant, who works at a Wasaga Beach school. “If I’m being honest, I think our pay is $37,000 … before taxes. How do you live on $37,000? You can’t.”
Caissie has been working as an educational assistant for 20 years. On the picket lines, there were other education workers, including educational assistants from Mountain View Elementary School.
On Thursday, the province passed legislation (Bill 28) to use the notwithstanding clause to force CUPE members back to work by forcing through a four-year contract not agreed to by the union and making a strike illegal and all strikers subject to fines of up to $4,000 per day, plus fines up to $500,000 for the union.
According to the record of the Nov. 3 legislature proceedings, Bill 28 passed at Queen's Park with a vote of 76 in favour and 32 against. The notes record MPP Saunderson voted in favour.
The notwithstanding clause is a part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms a government can use to deviate from and/or override the sections in the Charter that set out fundamental freedoms, legal rights, and equality rights. It cannot apply to democratic, mobility, or language rights. Legislation passed under the notwithstanding clause can remain in effect for five years, and can be re-enacted.
This is the first time an Ontario government has used the notwithstanding clause for back-to-work legislation. The bill passed on Thursday blocks employees from striking, or negotiating wages any further, legally binding education workers to a four-year contract. The four-year contract now being imposed by the province says it will give a 2.5 per cent annual raise to workers making less than $43,000 a year, and a 1.5 per cent increase for all others.
CUPE has challenged this statement, saying the raises are based on hourly rates and pay scales, so the contract won’t actually give all workers with a salary under $43,000 the full 2.5 per cent.
CUPE originally asked for an 11.7 per cent increase for its workers making $39,000 or less (about $4,500 per year before taxes, or approximately $3 per hour).
CUPE member Ken Parton, a custodian working in Simcoe County, said the province’s handling of negotiations with education workers makes him think of the communism his father and grandfather fought against in the world wars.
He was one of many protesters in front of Saunderson’s office on Nov. 4.
“The (notwithstanding clause) has never been used for back-to-work legislation,” said Parton. “There’s no need for this right now … We have to get rid of it. It’s communism creeping in.”
He pointed out Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, has had more than a 10 per cent raise in the past two years.
According to information disclosed on the Sunshine List, Lecce’s salary jumped from $150,531 to $165,851 between 2019 and 2020, which is a 10.2 per cent raise, or $15,320 a year, or about $7.50 an hour. The base salary for all MPPs in Ontario is $116,500, and cabinet ministers earn $165,850.
Last month, Premier Doug Ford’s government announced a $2.1-billion budget surplus for the 2021-22 fiscal year as inflation drove up the costs of goods and services, resulting in higher tax revenues for Ontario.
However, those striking outside of Saunderson’s office on Nov. 4 said they were there also because they believe the rights of all unionized workers are being trampled.
“Right now, it’s education workers that are affected … It’s eventually going to trickle down to every union within Ontario,” said Caissie.
Simcoe County Elementary Teachers’ Federation leaders Jennifer Klaassen (first vice-president) and Jason Durance (third vice-president) joined the picket line to show support for their fellow education workers.
Durance said their support was twofold.
“Everyone deserves a living wage,” he said. “These are front-line staff dealing with challenging situations and they get paid the least. If you’re a single parent that can’t afford rent, how is that fair when you’re a professional?”
Secondly, he said, there’s been a precedent set by the government to use the notwithstanding clause to override the legal right of unionized workers to strike.
“I think that the government has shown, by using a notwithstanding clause that was never designed for this purpose, that that could happen in any sector,” said Durance. “If we’re negotiating our contracts next, it could happen to us, and it could happen to doctors and nurses, to anyone who has a negotiated contract, and that should make everyone nervous.”
Klaassen pointed to the unfairness of withdrawing Charter rights.
“It’s just wrong,” she said. “We have the right to collective bargaining, we have the right to strike, and they’ve taken that away from this group. It’s not right and it’s not fair, and that’s why we’re here today.”
In an open letter to Ford, the Christian Labour Association of Canada (representing 60,000 workers from various sectors) called the government's use of the notwithstanding clause an “overreaction,” and unnecessary.
“It is generally accepted that the right to impose economic sanctions on an employer is what establishes a balance of power in our system of collective bargaining,” states the letter, noting the education workers have been deprived of the tools to do so.
The labour association suggested there were other ways to “keep children in school,” which Lecce claimed was the reason for the Charter override. He argued in the legislature that “children have rights, too.”
“Students and working families should not be pawns in a bargaining power struggle, and neither should the 55,000 mostly female workers whose wages have eroded,” states the association’s letter. “As it stands, the wage increases set out in Bill 28 are far below the increases being achieved by union and non-union workers in the province.”
The Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents 54 unions and one million unionized workers, has also come out against Bill 28.
The federation said the government has not bargained in good faith with CUPE, and called Bill 28 “game-changing legislation for unions,” in a post on its social media page today.
“Bill 28 is an attack on everyone. If we allow Doug Ford to get away with this, other workers will face the same threat: contracts imposed by law instead of free collective bargaining. We won’t let that happen.”
The federation is urging everyone to join picket lines in support of education workers, send messages to local MPPs’ offices, and to put up posters and wear purple and share photos on social media in solidarity with education workers.
According to Caissie, the mood in the picket line in Stayner was “upbeat,” with solidarity between workers from the different unions.
“The support from the people driving by has been incredible as well,” she said.
CUPE represents 55,000 education workers in Ontario and 715,000 across Canada.
The current strike by CUPE members is indefinite. So far, OPSEU has only committed to joining the picket lines on Nov. 4.
Simcoe County public and Catholic schools were closed to in-person learning today because of the strikes.
This is the second time the province is using the notwithstanding clause to pass a bill, and both times have been under Ford’s leadership. His government used it to restore parts of the Election Finances Act in June 2021, to limit third-party spending to $600,000 in advertising in the year before an election is called.
Quebec used the clause for its law prohibiting public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs and turbans on the job.
— With files from The Canadian Press
