Education Workers’ Strike and Bill 124: Labour Relations Disputes in Ontario

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Introduction
Over the years, there have been instances where the government and unscrupulous employers exploited employees. However, despite raising their issues, there were instances when the employers were not ready to implement them, and the government was unwilling to help them. Moreover, there were instances when the government made unfavorable employee laws. These instances prompted the employees to form unions since it would improve their power to fight for their rights. One of the unions the workers formed in Canada was the Canadian Union of Public Employees to fight for workers' rights. The government introduction of Bill 124 would limit the Union's bargaining power for change of its employees. Since the government was not ready to implement these changes, the Union decided to have Education Worker’s Strike to force the government to remove these laws. The following strike helped the unionized and nonunionized workers since the laws were removed, and they could easily bargain for the changes they wanted.
Background
Bill 124
On June 5, 2019, the Ontario legislature introduced Bill 124, which was in force on November 8, 2021. The bill aimed to limit compensation growth in the public and broader public sectors. Moreover, the Act applied to not-for-profit organizations, which received $1 million from Ontario government during the 2018-2019 fiscal period (PooranLaw, 2021). Besides, the bill was in force for both Union and nonunion workers. Unfortunately, the coalition of the public region unions has recently criticized the legislation, which took the Ford government to court after asserting that the bill was ineffective. For instance, they declared that the bill led to a crisis in public-sector staffing, especially among nurses. The legislation contributed to a massive effect on the Ontario Province's ability to retain and hire nurses. After three years of Covid 19 pandemic, the impact on the healthcare system has deteriorated massively and on people who require access to care that their members provide.
Members argued that Bill 124 led to a massive financial impact because it prevented the workers from putting issues on the table for discussion and deteriorated the Union's capability to bargain. Furthermore, it was argued that the Act affected the relationship between unions and their members by introducing arbitrary terms on members. These terms led members to ask about the need for collective bargaining if they could get more outside of the process rather than being inside it. The legislation was also assumed to affect the Union's ability to address issues with staffing that directly impacted the working conditions of existing workers, especially in the healthcare setting.
Bill 124 was enacted for numerous employers, workers, and unions in the wider provincial public region. These sectors included Crown agencies, universities, school boards, public hospitals, colleges, and non-profit long-term care homes. The legislation developed a 3-year moderation time and introduced a general limit on salary upsurges by 1% per annum (“Managing Pandemics And Conscripting Care Workers," n.d). This passing meant that when the contracts of the public sector workers expired, the unionized employees’ compensation upsurges had to be capped at 1% every year for the next three years regardless of what the employees could negotiate with employers via collective bargaining. This upsurge was to apply to collective agreements, nonunion wages, and arbitration awards.
The union lawyers confronted the constitutionality of Bill 124, asserting that it affected workers' freedom of speech, right of association, and equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As a result, they ended up in the court, asking the court to abolish the legislation on these grounds. On November 29, 2022, the court unconfined its projected decision in Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association v. Majesty 2022, ONSC 6658 (Mitchell et al., 2022). It stated that the legislation was unconstitutional. Even though the court did not find any violation of freedom of speech and equality right, it declared that the legislation infringed the applicants' freedom of association under section 2 (d) of the charter. The charter constitutionally secures collective bargaining and freedom to strike. The court also declared that Bill 124 was not saved by Section 1 of the charter because it could not be justified in a democratic and free society.
Education Worker’s Strike
The Education Worker’s Strike comprised more than 50,000 educational workers in Ontario. Most of these individuals complained that regardless of airing their grievances, the government and the employees were not showing goodwill to integrate these changes. This instance made them find that strike was the only way to push their agenda. During this instance, the Canadian Union of Public Employees announced that it had filed a five days strike notice highlighting that after two days of bargaining, the following talks with the province did not flourish. Furthermore, the government has introduced laws against the workers' performance despite their cries. The Union highlighted that it employed strikes mainly because it was the only way to force the government to listen to its proposals and withdraw the laws against the employees.
The Education Worker's Strike was a result of various unaddressed disputes. One of the reasons that caused the employees to strike was a series of problems. For example, the Union complained about the payment of workers. Previously, the government has agreed with the Union that there would be a rise in pay by $1 per hour every year, which will be approximately 3.59% annually. However, the Union was not satisfied by this move since it felt it would be unfair to employees earning less than $40,000 (Casey & Jones, 2022). The other reason which caused the strike was the high risk of the employees lacking job security. For instance, the Union highlighted that it would be unreasonable for a person to be added wages when they risk losing their job. The Union highlighted that there were still loopholes where the school boards tried to sac some employees. The wage increase could fail to help when individuals' lives are cut.
Even though the Union was advocating to improve and address these issues peacefully, the move by the government to introduce new laws that were not favoring them prompted the Union to call for a strike. The union workers decided to leave the job two days before a move prompted by the new law. In this law, the government aimed to enact a law imposing some contracts on the employees. This law aimed to ban all employees from striking. Moreover, this law could employ the notwithstanding clause, which would help it to override some charter rights. The Union was, therefore, ready for the strike to oppose the law and force the government to change these laws.
Even though most people believe there were only two participants in the Education Worker’s Strike, the Union and the government, the participants were many more than most people thought. For instance, the Union is comprised of workers of different levels. For example, the Union covered the higher level education assistants, secretaries, librarians, and early childhood educators in varying kindergarten classrooms. On the other hand, employees and the board were violating some of the employees’ rights. Moreover, a government was setting the laws all these groups were supposed to adhere to.
Even though the Education Worker’s Strike is one of the most popular strikes ever in Canada's history, only a few people know when this strike occurred. The strike occurred on November 4, 2022, after the supporters started to gather at Queen's Park to have the Ontario worker strike (Alberga, 2022). Even though most people thought this strike would last for a long time, it lasted shorter than anticipated. The main reason was the government eventually reached a tentative agreement with the Union late Sunday afternoon. This agreement occurred after intensive negotiations between the province and the Union.
Even though most people view disputes with a negative attitude, they also have a positive outcome. For instance, previously, the government had rejected the union demand citing that they were too high (Shakil, 2022). This was the main reason ...