BRALEY-RATTAI: On province’s use of notwithstanding clause

Associate Professor of Labour Studies Alison Braley-Rattai wrote a piece recently published in the National Post about the ongoing dispute between the provincial government and education workers.

She writes:

“The government of Ontario has tabled Bill 28 aimed at denying 55,000 education employees represented by CUPE the legal right to strike in order to keep them on the job.

The bill, an example of back-to-work legislation, affects educational assistants, early childhood educators, librarians, administrative staff and custodians. It invokes the so-called notwithstanding clause to block those workers from striking or negotiating wages any further.

With its additional imposition of a contract upon these workers, and the Ontario government’s invocation of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the second time, there’s a lot to dissect in Bill 28.”

Continue reading the full article on the National Post website.