Protect Canadians Right to Strike

 The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 education workers, has called for an 11.3% raise for its workers – often the lowest-paid in schools – arguing that stagnant wage growth and high inflation have hit the lowest earners hardest. With little progress in negotiations and a strike is planned.

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, tabled legislation this week that would unilaterally impose a contract on education workers, and levy hefty fines for striking with fast-tracked Bill 28. 

If passed,  individual workers can be fined C$4,000 a day and the union C$500,000 for striking.

The bill breaches the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Human Rights Code but the Ontario’s government is invoking a rarely used legal mechanism known as the notwithstanding clause, which allows provincial governments to override certain portions of the charter for a five-year time period. The government’s pre-emptive use of the clause which would shield Bill 28 from judicial review.

Constitutional lawyer Ewa Krajewska says there is little the federal government can do to stop it.

“The Ford government is essentially saying it is above the law. This is not just an attack on the fundamental charter rights, human rights and labor rights of education workers. It’s also an attack on our constitutional democracy and the rule of law,” said Adrienne Telford, another constitutional lawyer. Telford said that Ontario’s attempt to unilaterally impose a contract and working conditions was even more worrying. “Workers weren’t even allowed to exercise their right to strike. It’s pre-emptively taken that away. But what’s even more shocking is that the government isn’t replacing their fundamental right to strike with the right to arbitration,” she said. “Basically, this is an attempt by the government to avoid having to appear before an independent arbitrator and not get what it wants.”

“In theory, governments could just include the notwithstanding clause in every piece of legislation that they have,” said Telford. “What is the point of fundamental rights and freedoms if they can just be pre-emptively and overridden – and shielded from review by a court?”

Canadian bill would fine workers $4,000 for each day they strike | Canada | The Guardian