OPSEU to file charter challenge over college back-to-work law

OPSEU to file charter challenge over college back-to-work law
Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File photo

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said on Nov. 23 it plans to challenge the Ontario government’s recent back-to-work legislation in court.

The province ended a five-week strike by Ontario college faculty on Nov. 20 by passing Bill 178 and the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, 2017 on Nov. 19.

“For over a decade, the Supreme Court of Canada has viewed collective bargaining as a protected right under the charter,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU president. “More recently, the court has extended that protection to the right to strike."

Thomas said the law violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically Section 2 (d), which protects freedom of association.

On Nov. 16, hours after 86 per cent of college faculty had rejected the colleges’ contract offer, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne met with both sides and gave them three hours to settle the strike, according to the union.

Thomas said it was “ironic, but not funny” that the government had passed Bill 148, which improves labour standards “just a few days after it had walked all over the Charter rights of more than 12,000 workers.”

Bill 178 gave OPSEU and the colleges 90 days to settle the current contract dispute at arbitration, said the union. 

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