a union representing 55,000 education workers in Ontario has been in mediation with the government to work out a new collective agreement. they have been at loggerheads and the government has decided to force a contract on them that is a huge deviation from their ask (1.5-2.5% raises versus the 11.7% requested)

a portion of that largest union, the largest in Ontario, Canada, is set to strike tomorrow, despite the fact that the government of Ontario has stated they will use section 33 of the Charter (notwithstanding clause) to prohibit them from striking (violation of their labour and union rights), overriding a whole slew of Charter rights (expression, peaceful assembly, association, life+liberty+security of the person). the punishment for the illegal strike will be $4000 per per person and $500000 as against the union; with 55000 set to strike that would be a fine of $220,500,000. we're engaged in a pretty important game of chicken right now.

several other unions have vowed to support the union by also walking out. PM Trudeau has condemned Ford's actions.

most likely this will turn into a Supreme Court of Canada case of utmost importance (CUPE vs. Province of Ontario, likely with HMK intervening)... should be an interesting day.

This post was edited by 18nomaUSEast on Nov 3 2022 10:15pm

I am just going to throw this out there, the average starting salary for Canadian teachers is over 45,000$. I don’t want to get into an argument about living wages because this often ends up nowhere but come on. The biggest raise I have ever gotten without moving up a step was 2.5% and I was ecstatic. Asking for an 11.7% raise is asking a lot.

This post was edited by YeeHaw on Nov 3 2022 11:43pm

This union does not represent teachers, but pretty much all other school staff (education assistants, early childhood educators, office administrators, custodial staff)

Inflation wasn't far off of their ask, and i assume the logic was shoot high and settle mid or something along those lines

This post was edited by 18nomaUSEast on Nov 4 2022 01:07am

Unions are leeches a middle man that takes your cut

Fire them all

Public sector unions do not have a right to strike and endanger necessary public services. Fine the union into bankruptcy.

That’s going to be a shitshow. At 7% inflation the 2.5% proposition makes absolutely no sense, especially for workers barely making $40K for the most part. We’ve used the notwithstanding clause in Quebec a couple times in the past, mostly to protect the use of french and laicity of the state. Ontario using the clause to basically shit on workers’ right to negotiate and protest is bound to end in the Supreme Court. Hopefully for the workers they get the raise they deserve.

This post was edited by Chainsaw47 on Nov 4 2022 08:54am

On one side you have private corporates/very big businesses who overcharged prices and are doing record profits while not raising salaries. Contributing to inflation.
Then you have these teachers who CAN do a strike (apparently the others cannot) but their own employers did not make the said profits. Not contributing to inflation.

And the governement itself has hard times to regulate corporate/very big businesses in a global economeh.


Funny, hu ?

This post was edited by Meanwhile on Nov 4 2022 09:15am

There's a fairly strong demand in the labour market right now in Canada. Something like 1 million jobs are vacant, considering our population is 38M and of that you obviously have a significant amount that are not enrolled in the labour force due to age, retirement, etc. that's a staggering amount of job openings.

I absolutely would not accept any annual increase under the rate of inflation, nor would I consider that a raise. An annual raise needs to take place on top of that, or I'd walk.

Often you get your best salary increases when you have leverage, and people have leverage right now in Canada.

Especially in Ontario, the housing market has out paced the increase in salaries in wages in a significant multiple unless you're living in Thunder Bay or commuting 6 hours a day.

Per recent statistics, the average cost of living in Ontario is close to $5,000 a month now in a detached home.

This post was edited by SBD on Nov 4 2022 09:10am