Ontario to repeal Bill 115 on Wednesday

As promised, the McGuinty government has announced it will repeal Bill 115, the contentious legislation that imposed contracts on public school teachers.

It will come into effect Wednesday.

“By moving to repeal the act, the government is promoting goodwill and stability in Ontario’s schools by addressing a key concern of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation,” the government says in a statement.

Bill 115 passed with the support of the Progressive Conservatives on Sept. 11. The legislation allowed the government to impose the contract on teachers that includes a wage freeze, 10 sick days — down from 20 — and grandfathering out the practice of banking unused sick days.

Most controversially, Bill 115 gave Education Minister Laurel Broten the power to end job action without debate in the legislature.

Teachers felt the legislation violated their collective bargaining rights and staged rolling one-day protests around the province in December.  They then planned a day of political protest for Jan. 11; however Premier Dalton McGuinty brought the issue to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, calling their action “illegal strike activity.” The OLRB declared the planned protest was “unlawful.”

Shortly after the decision, the elementary school teachers’ union announced it had scrapped its protest and ordered members to show up for work.

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