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Ford’s mocking of worker’s rights
The 50,000 or so Ontario’s school system Support workers have just won a crucial first round against the Ford government.
The Ontario Conservatives want to impose a collective agreement that impoverishes support workers and they have gone to great lengths to prevent any real bargaining and to make any union challenge illegal.
Even before the strike began they invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to prevent not only the strike but also any legal challenge to the special legislation by the union.
CUPE went on strike in spite of the special law and the workers immediately received support from all over the world to denounce the contemptuous and anti-democratic attitude of the Conservatives.
After two days of illegal strike action, the Ford government was forced to withdraw its own special legislation and must now return to the bargaining table.
The battle is far from over and we must support this struggle to the end.
For us, our contract ends in just over 6 months and we cannot ignore the fact that the government is also preparing to offer us far less than inflation.
Nor can we ignore the fact that this government, which has already described us as the “guardian angels” of the population, will not hesitate to threaten us with special legislation to force its offers down our throats next year.
We had better learn from this battle and be prepared to take the steps necessary to get the pay and respect we deserve.
Together for a good collective agreement!