From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence: The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario

Abstract

From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence:The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario Steven Barrett (bio) The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OBSCU) is the exclusive bargaining agent for approximately 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees members in the elementary and secondary school board systems in Ontario. OBSCU members include education assistants, school library workers, administrative assistants, custodians and tradespeople, early childhood educators, child and youth workers, instructors, nutrition service workers, school safety monitors and social workers working in schools and in school board offices. OBSCU bargains with the Council of Trustees' Association (CTA), which is the central designated employer bargaining agent representing all school boards across Ontario. In addition, under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the school board education sector1, the government itself is a direct party to all central collective agreement terms, including wages and other compensation items. This flows from the government's role as the sole source of funding for public education school boards in Ontario. In their previous round of bargaining, CUPE members were subject to legislated government wage controls (known as Bill 124) imposing 1 percent compensation increases for a three-year period. That collective agreement was schedule to expire 31 August 2022. OBSCU commenced collective bargaining with the School Boards and the government in the summer of 2022. Under the guidance of its leadership - including its President, Laura Walton - OBSCU engaged in intensive organising and mobilising of its membership in support of a significant wage increase amounting to $3.25 an hour for each of four years. In percentage terms, the overall increase sought by OSCU was approximately 11.7 percent in each of the four years of the proposed collective agreement. The union also engaged in a public campaign in support of its proposed increase, emphasising the relatively low near-poverty level wages of many of its members, and explaining that it sought a fixed dollar increase so that lower wage workers would receive a proportionately higher percentage increase than higher paid workers. Moreover, CUPE emphasised that over the past decade, its' members wages had fallen significantly behind inflation. CUPE also sought improved benefits funding, enhanced job security, and additional funding to increase overall staffing levels. For its part, even before the outset of bargaining, the main government spokesperson, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, consistently stated that the government was committed to keeping students in school without disruption for the entire school year. Referring to the fact that Ontario students had lost the most time to school in-person closures during the COVID-19 pandemic than students anywhere else in Canada, Lecce repeatedly insisted that he and his government, led by Premier Doug Ford, would do everything in his power to keep students in school. This was a none too subtle threat to prevent strikes in the sector, notwithstanding the legislative collective bargaining scheme in place which was premised on the right to strike. Progress at the bargaining table, where negotiations began in June 2022, was virtually nonexistent. The Crown initially proposed wage increases of 2 percent for any employee earning below a $40,000 annual threshold, and 1.5 percent for anyone above that level, as well as sick leave concessions. As a result, in late September, CUPE took a strike vote, which is a legal requirement prior to engaging in legal strike action in Ontario. Turnout for the strike vote was very high, with over 45,000 members participating, and with members voting overwhelmingly in favour of strike action (96.5 percent). The government's response was to reiterate that it would do whatever it takes to keep students in class, and that the union should not force their hand by threatening to go on strike. Under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the education sector, CUPE was required to give a five-day notice in advance of commencing a lawful strike. CUPE gave this notice on 30 October 2022, so that the strike would commence on 4 November 2022. This is the point at which the determination of CUPE and the education workers it represents to exercise their right to strike ran into the Ontario Conservative...