Solidarity with Ontario CUPE Workers & Letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford
Dear KFA Colleagues,
We want to share the below message and attached letter sent by Federation of Post-Secondary Educators President Brent Calvert to Ontario Premiere Doug Ford.
The attached letter was sent to Ontario Premier Doug Ford today, adding the FPSE voice to those speaking out against invoking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ “notwithstanding clause” to bypass the collective bargaining process, in an effort to prevent the Province’s CUPE education sector workers from striking.
The KFA stands in solidarity with the unionized workers in Ontario whose Charter rights are under attack by the Ford Government.
In Health Services and Support-Facilities Subsector Bargaining Association v. British Columbia, 2007 SCC 27, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Section 2(d), freedom of association, of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does protect collective bargaining. In this context, the actions of the Ontario Provincial government are a direct threat to the fundamental rights under 2(d) to take job action and bargain collectively in Canada.
As we bargain locally with our Employer here at KPU, the KFA encourages faculty members, where appropriate, to take 10 minutes out of their classes and meetings over the next week to discuss the implications of the situation in Ontario for labour rights in British Columbia and across Canada.
For further information on the 2007 decision and the connection between the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and collective bargaining, please see:
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art2d.html
In Solidarity,
Mark Diotte
