Doug Ford rammed through Bill 124 last year. This legislation amounts to unacceptable interference with our collective bargaining rights enshrined in the constitution. OPSEU will not allow it to stand unchallenged.
Bill 124 is a violation of section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, undermining our rights to free collective bargaining. By pushing this legislation through, Doug Ford is telling working people that he can call the shots as he pleases and ignore the fundamental laws and principles of our country.
He is dead wrong and we will stop him dead in his tracks.
As such, OPSEU is mounting our own legal challenge. Every time OPSEU members face this kind of bullying behavior, we stare down the bully and become stronger as a union. In 2016 the Ontario courts ruled that the previous Liberal government violated the constitutional right to free collective bargaining with legislation that set rules for school boards to negotiate contracts with their workers.
The courts were clear that the government was out of line then, and this time will be no different. OPSEU will fight this legislation in the court of law and the court of public opinion. It won’t be easy work, but in the end we are going to win.
OPSEU’s Executive Board has voted in favour of launching and funding our Charter challenge. It will be filed with the courts in the coming weeks.