The Ontario government and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are holding morning press conferences Monday as students in the province stay out of school for a second day due to an ongoing strike by the education
Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce are scheduled to speak to the media at 9 a.m. at Queen’s Park, where a demonstration against the legislation that imposed a contract on 55,000 provincial workers will also take place of education and withdrew their right to strike.
CUPE has scheduled a press conference for 10am to discuss the rollback of Bill 28.
The union’s national president will be joined by national and provincial labor leaders, including representatives from the Canadian Labor Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labour.
You can watch the press conferences live in this story.
The union’s national president will be joined by national and provincial labor leaders, including representatives from the Canadian Labor Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labour.
The protest comes as CUPE, the provincial government, parents and students await a decision from the Ontario Labor Relations Board on the legality of the strike that began Friday, when thousands of workers walked off the job.
CUPE says its education worker members will remain out of a job regardless of the labor board’s decision.
CUPE members and supporters gather outside Toronto’s Queen’s Park on the first day of an indefinite strike that closed schools on boards across the province. (Carlos Osorio/CBC)
The government is seeking a ruling that their walkout is illegal, while CUPE claims the industrial action is a legitimate form of political protest.
Board chairman Brian O’Byrne heard arguments for 16 hours on Saturday and a further eight hours on Sunday, before promising to make a decision as soon as possible.
The strike closed numerous schools in the province on Friday and even more are expected to close on Monday if the work stoppage continues.