Classes resume as CUPE and province return to bargaining table

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CUPE Ontario school staff who walked off the job Friday have announced they’ll end their job action starting Tuesday in response to an offer from the Doug Ford government to withdraw its controversial use of the notwithstanding clause.

Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), said her union would be collapsing its protest sites and returning to negotiations to achieve a collective agreement.

“We have our bargaining rights back,” Walton said Monday. “We will be at work tomorrow morning.”

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) announced in-person learning will resume Tuesday.

Walton said the union could still call a strike if negotiations falter but it would have to give five-days notice.

CUPE Ontario made the announcement at a media conference beside other labour leaders representing millions of private and public sector workers.

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Education Minister Stephen Lecce confirmed that CUPE has agreed to withdraw strike action and return to bargaining.

“In return, at the earliest opportunity, we will revoke Bill 28 in its entirety and be at the table so that kids can return to the classroom after two difficult years,” Lecce said in a statement. “As we have always said and called for, kids need to be back in the classroom, where they belong.”

The government is expected to withdraw the legislation when the legislature resumes next Monday.

Premier Doug Ford, in a media conference earlier Monday, said his government had no choice but to introduce the Keeping Students in Class Act, Bill 28, to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to preemptively end a school strike after two years of pandemic-related education disruptions.

“I know that has been controversial,” he said. “I’ve always respected the right of workers to fair and free bargaining, but CUPE refused to take strike action off the table, even when those strikes were illegal.”

The government is willing to withdraw the entire bill, which in addition to banning strikes imposed a contract, he said.

The government is also ready to negotiate a contract that addresses the issue of the lowest paid workers, while keeping in mind the repercussions on the treasury and bargaining with the broader public sector, he said.

“We know we can get there,” Ford said.

The Ontario government is also attempting to reach agreements with teacher unions.

aartuso@postmedia.com