Apparently Education Minister Liz Sandals' “the balls in your court” comment to the opposition this morning to support a government motion for back-to-work legislation for striking Ontario high school teachers fell on deaf ears.
According to media reports this afternoon, the NDP won't back fast-tracking a vote to send public high school teachers in Sudbury, Durham and Peel back to class, much to Premier Kathleen Wynne's apparent disappointment.
If passed today by all three parties, the proposed Protecting the School Year Act would have ended local strikes by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and brought the 72,000 secondary students in Durham, Rainbow and Peel district school boards back to class tomorrow.
The bill had the support of the Ontario PCs. And while they supported it, Leader Patrick Brown blamed the Liberals' two-tier bargaining system of local and central negotiations for the strike, calling it a “disaster.”
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath also blamed the Liberals' two-tier bargaining system for the strike, but called the government's attempt to hammer through back-to-work legislation “undemocratic.”
Meanwhile, Paul Elliot, the head of the OSSTF, said the legislation has further inflamed the situation. Under the bill, individual teachers who refuse to go back to class will be fined $2,000 a day, while unions would face daily fines of $25,000.
Locally, Rainbow District School Board issued a news release this afternoon saying after speaking with the Education Ministry, the process of trying to legislate teachers back to class will take a few days and Rainbow secondary schools remain closed until further notice.
"We are working to determine what the remainder of the school year will look like, including final marks, missed work and exams," said Board Chair Doreen Dewar. "We will continue to support students and families to ensure a smooth transition.
"We will inform students and families as soon as we have more information about when our secondary schools will re-open."
In a press release this afternoon, CUPE Ontario is denouncing the provincial government's move to introduce back-to-work legislation against striking teachers.
"Premier Wynne committed to restoring labour peace after the disaster that was Bill 115 - specifically by respecting the collective bargaining process," said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario. "Back-to-work legislation is the antithesis of respect for the collective bargaining process. The very introduction of this legislation is a disturbing throwback to the Bill 115 way of doing things."
CUPE leaders also called into question the validity of the back-to-work bill. "The recent Supreme Court decision on the Charter-protected right of public sector workers to strike was clear. By introducing this bill, the Wynne government is acting in opposition to that decision on fundamental, constitutional rights," said Hahn.
The delay means the legislation could be passed no earlier than Thursday with students heading back to class on Friday.
