Local 449 Supports CUPE Counterparts in Protesting Bill 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday November 7^th, 2022

RENFREW, ON – OPSEU/SEFPO Local 449 supports the political action being taken by education workers at CUPE Locals 1321, 1202 and 1247 in retaliation to Bill 28, a legislative attack on workers’ constitutional right to fair and free collective bargaining.

“I have directed our members from Local 449 to support our CUPE/OSBCU counterparts in any way possible,” says local president Liam Vanderbraak. “Whether that is joining CUPE/OSBCU workers out on the protest line, bringing coffee, or offering to pick up and drop off political action items, our members are here for local CUPE/OSBCU education workers who are fighting for their right to collective bargaining.”

Bill 28 preemptively prohibits these workers’ right to strike, imposes massive fines, imposes four-year long collective agreements, and invokes the notwithstanding clause to preclude any legal action against Ford’s unconstitutional and undemocratic attempt at strong-arming.

Bill 28 isn’t just an attack on education workers’ collective bargaining rights, it is an attack on all workers’ rights.

“If we back down now, the Ford government is free to use the notwithstanding clause in any bargaining situation with any union,” continues Vanderbraak. “The support that CUPE/OSBCU is receiving from across the province, let alone the entire country, shows that the provincial government has overstepped and miscalculated how we would respond to Bill 28.”

The 55,000 members of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) – custodians, maintenance and library workers, secretaries, early childhood educators, educational assistants, IT professionals – who are working in publicly-funded schools across Ontario are the backbone of Ontario’s public education system. They are also the lowest-paid education workers, earning, on average, only $39,000 a year which has left many on the brink of poverty.

-30-

For more information:

Liam Vanderbraak, OPSEU/SEFPO Local 449 President
president@opseulocal449.ca | 1-866-283-0557