A collision between the Ontario government and unionized education workers escalated into one of the most significant moments in recent Canadian labour relations history.
On November 7, 2022, amidst continuing job action by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that he would seek to repeal Bill 28 (the Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022), a measure that had prohibited education workers from striking and imposed a new collective agreement.
The offer to repeal Bill 28 was done in exchange for CUPE’s agreeing to cease its strike action and have staff return to schools to resume in-person learning. On November 14, 2022, the Ontario government repealed Bill 28. Nevertheless, on November 16, 2022, following an impasse in negotiations over school staffing levels, CUPE filed notice of a potential province-wide strike set for November 21, 2022.
Background
After a breakdown in collective bargaining negotiations between the Ontario government and CUPE, which represents 55,000 education support workers across the province (including educational assistants, early childhood educators, and janitors, among others), the union was poised to go on strike.
The strike would have closed schools. But on the heels of shutdowns caused by COVID-19, the Ontario government was determined to keep schools open.
In an effort to prevent school closures, Bill 28 was enacted to make CUPE’s strike action illegal. It imposed a new collective agreement that...
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