Cheers on Sudbury picket line as Bill 28 repealed

There were cheers at the picket line in Sudbury on Monday after it was announced that Premier Doug Ford agreed to repeal Bill 28.

Some union leaders called it “a glimmer of hope.”

“I think today belongs to CUPE and all the workers of this province,” said D’Arcy Gauthier, president of the Sudbury and District Labour Council.

“When workers stand solid with each other, whether they work in a union or not, that’s when we have each other’s backs (and) we get it done.”

Gauthier said Bill 28 was the heaviest hammer he has ever seen.

“Workers are constantly being imposed contacts, have had their rights taken away, are legislated back to work and that happens at both levels of government,” he said.

Lydia Miljan, a political science professor at the University of Windsor, said the union can claim victory.

“Clearly the province thought that they could basically use a nuclear option and they miscalculated,” Miljan said.

“It completely backfired on them, and if they didn’t back down you could see this progressing to a general strike.”

However, Miljan said as negotiations resume, the union’s call for an 11.7 per cent increase is not realistic. She said the government will never agree because of the precedent it would set.

“You have the lowest-paid union almost making as much as the teachers, so obviously the teachers would then demand the same kind of increases and that’s just not sustainable for the province,” she said.