CUPE ends walkout as government promises to repeal Bill 28

Local CUPE leaders call Ford government’s promise to repeal Bill 28 a victory for labour movement, but vow to return to picket line if needed.

THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay custodians and other education workers who began walkouts Friday in defiance of provincial legislation celebrated what they called a victory Monday in their dispute with the Ford government over wages and working conditions.

The province pledged Monday to repeal Bill 28, the legislation that declared a strike by education workers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) illegal and invoked the notwithstanding clause to protect the move from Charter challenges.

That amounts to a win for workers, said leaders with CUPE Local 2486, which represents around 150 education workers with the Lakehead District School Board, mostly custodians. The local led a picket of close to 100 people outside of Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland’s James Street office on Monday.

“It’s great to see they’re rescinding the bill,” said shop steward Devin Klassen. “Obviously the amount of support [we got] and pressure we put on this government worked. But again, this is a bill that should never have been passed in the first place.”

MPP Lise Vaugeois (NDP, Thunder Bay-Superior North), visiting the picket, agreed cross-union solidarity and public pressure had forced the government’s hand.

“There’s certainly been talk of a general strike,” she said. “I imagine [the government is] quite afraid of that kind of complete shutdown of the province.”

In a press conference Monday morning, Premier Doug Ford pledged to repeal Bill 28 and resume contract talks if CUPE ended its walkout, which the union agreed to do hours later.

Ford argued during the press conference his government “had no option” but to invoke the notwithstanding clause to quash the strike, saying students can’t afford to lose more time in class after years of pandemic-related disruptions that had already set learning back.

“It’s an unprecedented situation that required unprecedented solutions,” he said.

The tentative agreement means hundreds of schools that had closed across the province could be able to reopen as soon as Tuesday. The union vowed to return to the picket lines if needed, however.

While the Lakehead District School Board did not close schools, local CUPE leaders said it would have been challenging to keep classes running for long.

“We take care of the whole school,” said CUPE 2486 vice-president Rob Jewett. “Every day starts with a CUPE member, and it ends with a CUPE member, in terms of building security, health and safety, cleaning, maintenance.”

CUPE education workers voted 96.5 per cent in favour of a strike mandate in October.

The union has been seeking annual increases of 11.7 per cent for its members, who the union says make around $39,000 on average and have seen only nominal increases over the past decade.

Bill 28 would have awarded a 2.5 per cent annual increase to workers making under $43,000, and 1.5 per cent raises for others.

The parties were believed to remain far apart and negotiations had ground to a standstill. The province had refused to entertain CUPE’s most recent counter-offer unless the union took strike action off the table.