The government has introduced legislation that orders the York University academic staff who remain on the picket lines back to work as part of a bill the Progressive Conservatives have called the “Urgent Priorities Act.”
The legislation was introduced Monday, and covers the almost 2,000 teaching and graduate assistants who remain off the job after more than four months.
York’s 1,100 contract faculty reached an agreement last month and have returned to work.
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All are represented by Local 3903 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who walked off the job March 5, seeking improved job security as well as better funding.
Under the proposed legislation, the “Back to Class” portion covering York ends the strike, bans any lock-outs and sends all outstanding issues to a mediator-arbitrator.
It is unclear when the bill will be passed.
“Negotiations in respect of the other two bargaining units remain at an impasse and the parties are clearly deadlocked,” it says. “The strike has been ongoing for more than 100 days. It is the longest post-secondary strike in Canadian history.”
The bill also says that more than 37,000 York students “are enrolled in at least one course that is unable to progress while the strike continues.”
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The previous Liberal government, in a rare move, appointed an “industrial inquiry commission” that said arbitration was the only answer given the massive “clash” between the university and its academic workers.
Both the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students opposed the back-to-work legislation.
Mark Hancock, CUPE’s national president, said Premier Doug Ford “is sending a pretty clear message to every employer across Ontario: whether they’re in the private sector or public sector, they don’t have to bargain with workers because when push comes to shove, the new Conservative government will step in to legislate away their right to strike.
“Mr. Ford is also sending a clear message to working people in Ontario that, despite all the rhetoric, this is not a government for the people.”
