Four unions representing teachers and other education workers here in Ontario have joined together and launched a court challenge against the Ford Government.
The challenge has been launched by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Association of Franco-Ontarian Teachers.
They claim that the government’s wage cap legislation violates their members’ rights to negotiate.
The unions state Bill 124, which caps all public sector salary increases at 1% for the next three years, violates their charter rights.
Officials add it’s a direct attack on collective bargaining for education workers, and violates sections 2(b) and 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In addition, they say that the legislation gets in the way of the Government’s responsibility to negotiate fairly with the unions in good faith.
OECTA president Liz Stuart says that given the timing of the bill, which received Royal Assent in November, the legislation clearly targets teachers and education workers.
"Education Unions Launch Charter Challenge Against Ford Government"#OSSTF, @ETFOeducators, @OECTAProv, and @AEFO_ON_CA stand united in launching a court challenge to the Ford Government's unilateral public sector wage restraint legislation. https://t.co/WuHxKCXR8n pic.twitter.com/nDMZNkkGlq
— OSSTF Communications (@osstf) December 12, 2019
