Education workers are set to return to schools tomorrow morning.
The end to their walkout which started Friday and continued Monday comes after Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government of Ontario confirmed in writing it would rescind its legislation that made their strike illegal.
The legislation included fines of up to $4,000 for individual workers who take part in the job action, and up to $500,000 for any organizing union.
Ford said this morning he would rescind the legislation adding, “But only if CUPE agrees to show a similar gesture of good faith by stopping their strike.”
CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions president Laura Walton told a news conference this afternoon, “Our commitment to the people of Ontario, to the parents, to the kids is we are going back to the table with open minds, open hearts and we are ready to negotiate and we call on the government to do the exact same.”
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says in a statement this afternoon, at the earliest opportunity his PC government will “revoke Bill-28 in its entirety and be at the table so that kids can return to the classroom after two difficult years.”
Bluewater Public Schools had remained open through the two days of strike action. Local English Catholic schools moved to remote learning.
The Bruce Grey Catholic District School Board had closed its schools Friday and offered remote learning Monday. They say in a statement this afternoon, “We are very relieved that all of our Secondary and Elementary schools will be open tomorrow and will run their regular programs. School buses and Before and After school programs will run as scheduled.”
Emily Cole, Regional Communications Lead for CUPE 1176, who is Head Custodian at the Bluewater Outdoor Education Centre near Wiarton, says, “We’ve had such strength in numbers, and not just from CUPE, or OSBCU. We’ve had strong numbers from the community, other unions backing us and I believe that going forward in negotiations, that should be a definite plus for us.”
She adds, “We are very confident going into negotiations. Laura Walton — the president of OSBCU — she has been such a strong backbone for everybody, and she is not giving up on negotiations and proposals. She is definitely in it for the long run for a good deal for everybody.”
Meanwhile, the Ontario Labour Relations Board says it will rule as soon as possible on whether the work stoppage violated the law.
