Hamilton education workers prepare to walk off the job Friday amidst heated labour negotiations

As education workers with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) prepare to walk off the job Friday, Hamilton educational assistant Lucia Cirami says she plans to be among them. 

"[People say] we're not there for the best interest of the children, we're there just for the pay, and it's not true," Cirami said, in the midst of heated negotiations between CUPE and the provincial government.

"When it's all said and done, we don't get paid as much as we should be," said Cirami, who works with the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic School Board (HWCDSB).

CUPE represents 55,000 workers in Ontario, such as early childhood educators, educational assistants and custodians. 

HWCDSB says its schools will close for in-person learning if the 1,229 CUPE members who work with the board strike. 

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) has 535 CUPE members and says its schools will remain open in the event of a strike, although some after care programs are planning to close.

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The Halton Catholic and public school boards have 1,830 CUPE members combined. Its Catholic schools plan to close, while public schools are expected to stay open. 

The Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB), which covers schools in Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties, says it has 960 CUPE members and says its schools will close, while Catholic schools in the area will be open as they do not have CUPE members. 

The public and Catholic boards in the Niagara region say its school will be closed. 

Workers expected to be on strike 'indefinitely'

Education Minister Stephen Lecce introduced legislation Monday afternoon to avert a looming strike and impose a four-year contract on education workers. Under the proposed legislation, workers could face fines of up to $4,000 per day if they strike.

CUPE has said its workers, which make on average $39,000 a year, are generally the lowest paid in schools and had been seeking annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent.

The government originally offered raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others, but Lecce said the new, imposed four-year deal would give 2.5 per cent annual raises to workers making less than $43,000 and 1.5 per cent raises for all others.

CUPE gave the government a counter offer late Tuesday, but Lecce said Wednesday that he won't negotiate those proposals unless the union cancels its plans to strike. 

"I'm again calling on CUPE to immediately withdraw this strike and work with us to keep kids in the classroom. Otherwise, to make sure schools don't close, we have no choice but to proceed with legislation," Lecce said.

Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said workers would be on strike indefinitely as of Friday.

The Ontario School Board Canadian Union division of CUPE said it plans on hosting three protests in Hamilton — at Limeridge Mall, Eastgate Mall and Hamilton Member of Provincial Parliament Neil Lumsden's Stoney Creek office.

'We do a lot for these kids'

Cirami said she will participate but is concerned about how leaving the school will impact the children she works with. 

"I won't have an opportunity to work with these kids as long as I want to," she said, adding that she began her role as an educational assistant only recently. 

"We're vital in their care every day and the government has to realize that we do a lot for these kids on a day-to-day basis," she said.

She called the threat of a fine "absurd" adding: "We have freedom of speech and rights and [Premier Doug Ford] can't [threaten] us with such power like that. Shame on him."

Cory Judson is a teacher with the GEDSB. Although teachers are not striking, he says he supports worker action.  

"We've seen reductions in the number of staff and greater expectations on staff, but there hasn't been any recognition of the need to compensate these workers fairly," he said. 

Judson said the proposed fines are like "using a hammer to hit a flea." 

"These workers are incredibly valuable in our schools," Judson said. "They're doing everything from maintenance and custodial work to secretarial duties to educational assistance, and other supports in our schools that are absolutely there to help all of our students and, in many cases, our most vulnerable students," he said. 

Use of notwithstanding clause a 'slippery slope': lawyer

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as the federal justice and labour ministers, have criticized the Ontario government for pre-emptively including the Constitution's notwithstanding clause in the legislation, saying it shouldn't be used to suspend workers' rights.

The clause allows the legislature to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

Hamilton labour lawyer Roberto Henriquez said he believes the provincial government is not justified in enacting the clause because he says it was created to "appease some of the outlying provinces" that didn't want to join into the Charter of Rights and Freedoms "at the risk of of losing their full provincial autonomy." 

He called using it to stop labour action "a bit of a cheat code to essentially get your way" on issues related to contracts. 

"I don't think that the framers of the Charter would have expected that the notwithstanding clause would have been used to essentially resolve what is otherwise a contractual dispute between two sophisticated parties who are bargaining," he said. 

Its use could lead to a "slippery slope," Henriquez added. 

"There's a fear that if if folks in the public don't react to this in an overly negative way, the government may feel that they have free licence to use it on a more regular basis," he said. 

From Ottawa on Wednesday, Hamilton Centre Member of Parliament Matthew Green called the use of the clause an "absolutely a crisis for anybody's who's had to collectively bargain."

He said he was planning to call on the House of Commons to denounce it and to "call an emergency meeting to ensure that the House recognize the implications."