After the provincial labour relations board heard contentious arguments from both sides for more than 16 hours on Saturday, the hearing to establish the legality of a strike by 55,000 Ontario educators continued Sunday morning.
The board was informed by a lawyer representing the Canadian Union of Public Employees that granting the government’s request to deem the strike illegal would imply that labour rules and the right to collective bargaining are no longer in effect.
In order to protect itself from constitutional challenges, the Progressive Conservative administration incorporated the notwithstanding clause into the education worker law that forbade strikes and required union members to sign a four-year contract.
On Friday, thousands of workers, including librarians, custodians, and education assistants, left their jobs in protest. According to CUPE, the strike may last indefinitely.
Steven Barrett, a lawyer for CUPE, contended Ontario utilised the clause in an unusual and improper way to handle labour difficulties by citing case law.
The government’s attorney, Ferina Murji, replied that if the labour board does not deem the walkout illegal, it runs the risk of undermining the province’s own labour rules.
Brian O’Byrne, the board chair, expressed the expectation that Sunday would be the hearing’s last day.
Union claims that making the Ontario strike illegal would compromise labour rules and the right to collective bargaining
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