The union representing 55,000 Ontario education workers says protest sites “will be collapsed” starting tomorrow (Tuesday). This comes after Premier Doug Ford announced that he was willing to repeal the law that banned the workers from striking. The premier said he would only repeal the law if the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) stopped the walkout that started on Friday.
Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, says she hopes the union’s gesture of “good faith” in ending its walkout is met with similar good faith by the government at the bargaining table.Today marked the second day out of the classroom for hundreds of thousands of students in Ontario as many schools were closed to in-person learning as a result of the walkout. Locally, demonstrations this morning took place outside the office of MPP John Yakabuski in Pembroke, downtown Renfrew and also on Bay Street in Barry’s Bay.
Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce says CUPE has agreed to withdraw their strike action and come back to the negotiating table. Lecce says at the earliest opportunity, they will revoke Bill 28 in its entirety and be at the table so that kids can return to the classroom after two difficult years.
(written by: Rudy Kadlec with files from the Canadian Press)
