8,000 OPSEU education workers to walk off job in solidarity with CUPE colleagues

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) says its 8,000 education workers will walk off the job Friday in solidarity with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), whose 55,000 education workers are set to strike.

“We have 8,000 education workers in our union, if you all walk out together on Friday, there is safety in numbers,” reads a letter from the OPSEU president to the union members.

A release from the union calls the Ford government’s back-to-work legislation, Bill 28, an “attack on workers’ constitutional right to fair and free collective bargaining.”

The province’s legislation passed on Thursday and includes a four-year contract and bans strikes, with steep fines if workers do not comply. The new law states that CUPE members could face fines of up to $4,000 per day and the union could face fines of up to $500,000 per day if they go ahead with a work stoppage.

“Bill 28 isn’t just an attack on education workers’ collective bargaining rights, it is an attack on all workers’ rights,” reads the OPSEU release.

Several other unions, including the teachers’ unions currently in bargaining with the government, have expressed solidarity with CUPE. The most notable example is the Labourers’ International Union of North America – LiUNA – which endorsed Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in the spring election.

The government is in bargaining with all four major teachers’ unions right now, and the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation said Wednesday she is concerned about her union’s negotiations in light of the CUPE legislation.

“It’s so heavy-handed, so draconian, so unnecessary, so unconstitutional, all of the above,” Karen Littlewood said. “It’s hard to sit face to face with another group who’s bringing in that type of action.”

CUPE said it presented a counter-offer late Tuesday, but Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Wednesday that the government will not negotiate unless the union cancels its job action. The union later said the government had rejected its latest offer.

When workers walk off the job it will force most GTA schools to close for in-person learning. A full list of school board plans can be found here.

With files from The Canadian Press