Public and Catholic school boards which operate schools in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon have confirmed that schools will be open for in-person learning after calling off the two-day education worker’s strike that started on Friday, November 4.
Recently, thousands of CUPE education workers in Ontario agreed to call off strike action starting today after the government of Ontario repealed the controversial notwithstanding clause.
The Peel District School Board posted on its website that every school will be open to staff and students today and added that every before- and after-school program and EarlyON centres will be open too.
Also, the board said that every co-op placement will hold as scheduled starting today and that athletic and extracurricular activities will progress as scheduled.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board also affirmed that all its schools will re-open to staff students today. In a bulletin posted on its website, the board said every student transportation will resume, along with every school-based event, tutoring and activity. Students currently using a school-issued device for remote learning have been asked to return it to school today.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said recently that he extended “a massive olive branch” to the 55,000 workers when he pledged to repeal the notwithstanding clause if CUPE called off strike action and returned to the negotiating table.
CUPE responded later at a press conference in Toronto by saying it would “collapse all protest sites” starting today now that the controversial legislation has been repealed.
Mark Hancock, national CUPE president, labelled the huge labour presence at the press conference as “an unprecedented gathering of labour leaders due to an attack on labour.”
He said: “Bill 28 (Keeping Students in Class Act 2022) is a direct threat to workers’ rights and to Charter rights of all Canadians. They took on the Ford government and the government blinked.”
Hancock added that there are “55,000 education workers here in Ontario who still need a fair deal to help them make ends meet…and we’ll stand with them until a deal is made.”
CUPE Ontario school boards leader, Laura Walton, explained that workers will collapse school protest sites “as a gesture of good faith” towards negotiations.
She said: “I hope this gesture will be met by another good faith (gesture from the Province) at the bargaining table.” She noted that a deal is now closer after the rescinding of “draconian legislation.”
She added: “We have our bargaining rights back.”
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a recent statement that the most significant thing now is to get kids back to school.
Lecce said: “CUPE has agreed to withdraw their strike action and come back to the negotiating table. In return, at the earliest opportunity, we will revoke Bill 28 in its entirety and be at the table so that kids can return to the classroom after two difficult years. As we have always said and called for, kids need to be back in the classroom, where they belong.”
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