Over 100 CUPE members and their supporters rallied outside Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie's office on Friday.
"I'm feeling pretty good about the turnout. We've got some parents. We've got grandparents who have brought their grandkids with them, a lot of parental support here which is always good," said Anthony Birley, President of CUPE Local 27 representing maintenance workers and custodial staff with the Greater Essex County District School Board.
Similar rallies happened simultaneously outside MPP Trevor Jones office in Leamington and MPP Anthony Leardi's office in Essex.
Across the province, over 55,000 educational support workers walked off the job after the government and the union failed to reach an agreement, and the government passed the Keeping Students in Class Act, which imposed a contract on the workers.
On Thursday evening, Bill 28 was passed to impose the contract making the strike illegal in the government's eyes. Collective bargaining is a right enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the government invoked the Notwithstanding Clause of the Constitution, overriding their Charter right.
"It's a sad day. This government here has been professing that he's been looking out for the small worker. We are the small workers, and this is how he is treating the small workers. What he was putting on the table was not for the small workers," said Anthony Cutrone, president of CUPE Local 4299 representing all education support staff at the French Catholic school board.
After the bill was passed, CUPE said all educational workers would be "out of work on political protest until further notice."
OSBCU 2022 Bargaining Update # 38| Négociation du CSCSO 2022 - Mise à jour no 38 - Political Protest Begins. Find your picket location https://t.co/6jFfSrRryAhttps://t.co/Bf6Z4JuRVg pic.twitter.com/TZki7BB17R
— OSBCU-CSCSO (@osbcucscso) November 4, 2022
