On Saturday, frontline educators, labour leaders, and allies plan to rally across Ontario.
Rallies will be held in support of Ontario’s education support workers just over a week after members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) went on strike, according to a statement issued Friday night.
After the strike began, the Doug Ford government invoked controversial legislation that impacted workers’ ability to strike, but the bill was later rescinded.
In addition, Bill 28 used the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on the 55,000 education employees represented by CUPE.
“After a historic pushback by workers and their allies, the Ford government has promised to repeal Bill 28, the anti-worker legislation that imposed a bad contract on Ontario’s lowest-paid education workers,” the union said in the statement.
“These Solidarity Saturday regional rallies are a reminder that $39,000 per year is not enough – for education workers or anyone – and that the Ford government must offer education workers a deal that accounts for current high levels of inflation and an 11 per cent legislated wage cut imposed on workers over the last decade,” the statement said.
On Saturday, the rallies are scheduled to take place at Conservative MPP constituency offices across Ontario from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
According to the statement, students went back to class on Tuesday, and the union’s central bargaining committee is still present at the bargaining table.
— With files from Global News’s Gabby Rodrigues.
On Saturday, “Solidarity Saturday,” educators from across Ontario are expected to demonstrate.
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