Joined by other union members, parents and supporters from the general public, education support staff workers from the Chatham area picked near their local MPP’s office Friday against the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause to force them back to work.
Joined by other union members, parents and supporters from the general public, education support staff workers from the Chatham area picked near their local MPP’s office Friday against the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause to force them back to work.
The protest was one of several across Ontario organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which has 55,000 workers striking in defiance of a law that imposed a contract on them.
One would have had to travel along Keil Drive in Chatham at least from Richmond Street to the Thames River and then over to Chatham-Kent—Leamington MPP Trevor Jones’ constituency office on Heritage Road to understand the full scale of the rally.
People dressed in purple – a sign of solidarity with the workers – could be seen marching on sidewalks throughout that area while a large group was stationed outside the Progressive Conservative member’s office.
Michele LaLonge-Davey, president of CUPE Local 1238, said their intent was to show they will not stand for the “overuse” of the notwithstanding clause to force them back to work with a contract they didn’t agree to.
“We are standing up for our rights and the rights of the future and every other worker and citizen in this province,” La-Longe-Davey, who represents support staff at the Lambton Kent District school board, said.
“To us right now, the bargaining is obviously very important and we want that done by legal, proper collective bargaining fashion, but we are very, very proud to be standing up for the rights issue.”
CUPE locals 4168, representing workers at St. Clair Catholic District school board, and 4299, representing workers at Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, also took part in the protest. Flags from several other labor unions could be seen among the crowds.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union’s 8,000 education workers across the province joined CUPE in the strike.
“We don’t feel alone,” LaLonge-Davey said.
Due to the sheer numbers of people at the picket, Chatham-Kent police issued a traffic advisory Friday morning calling for drivers to be cautious in the area.
An inquiry to Jones’ office was not immediately returned Friday.
The Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 28 Thursday, which made the strike illegal through the use of the notwithstanding clause. No provincial government in Canada has used that clause to break a strike before.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government filed a submission to the labor board immediately following the passage of the legislation Thursday night and proceedings continued Friday.
“Nothing matters more right now than getting all students back in the classroom, and we will use every tool available to us to do so,” he wrote in a statement to the Canadian Press.
The law sets out fines for violating a prohibition on strikes for the life of the agreement of as much as $4,000 per employee per day — which could amount to $220 million for all 55,000 workers — while there are fines of as much as $500,000 daily for the union.
CUPE plans to fight the fines, but officials have also said the union will pay the penalties if needed.
The average support worker in Ontario makes about $39,000. Between 2012 and 2021, their wages rose about 8.5 per cent.
Canada’s inflation rate over that same period was more than 17 per cent.
The government originally offered raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others, but Lecce said the new, imposed 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 that framing is not accurate because the raises actually depend on hourly wages and pay scales, so the majority of workers who earn less than $43,000 in a year wouldn’t get 2.5 per cent.
CUPE has said its workers are generally the lowest paid in schools and had been seeking annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent.
The union said it cut its wage proposal by more than half in a counter-offer it gave the government Nov. 1 and made “substantial” moves in other areas as well. However, the government said it would not negotiate unless CUPE canceled the strike.
Several school boards across Ontario closed or moved to online learning Friday. Both the public and Catholic boards in the Chatham and Sarnia areas closed.
The St. Clair Catholic board released a plan Friday for remote learning available at newsdesk.st-clair.net. The Lambton Kent public board’s plan is available at www.lkdsb.net.
LaLonge-Davey asked the public to join the workers and stay with them.
“It’s for your children and we are the protectors of public education,” she said. “If this Ministry (of Education) does not fund correctly, it will water down and it will be a no-good system at all. We all have a right to education and we’re just fighting for that so hard.”
The CUPE representative also said they won’t let the government set a precedent with this law in Ontario.
“This action must happen. It is required,” Lalonge-Davey said. “We’re proud to be the ones who are starting it. We know we won’t finish it without everybody. It has just got to be done – that’s all I can say – and we’re not leaving until we get a deal.”
– With Canadian Press files