Ontario, Canada Introduces Bill Prohibiting Strike By School Board Employees Represented By CUPE

On October 31, 2022, in an unprecedented bid to prevent school board employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) from proceeding with a strike planned for early November 2022, Ontario introduced Bill 28, Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022 (Act) and insulated it from constitutional challenge. The Act's Preamble indicates that the government was motivated to introduce the Act to maintain stability after the COVID-19 pandemic caused two years of disruptions to student learning, and negatively impacted students' mental health.

If passed, the Act would, among other things:

• Deem new collective agreements (CAs) with new central terms to exist for education workers represented by CUPE beginning on the date the Act receives Royal Assent and ending on August 31, 2026 (s. 5)¹;