It’s called the Keeping Students in Class Act. The title of the bill, which passed Ontario’s legislature Thursday, is a weak attempt to make it seem like Premier Doug Ford is protecting public education in the province. In reality, Bill 28 is draconian legislation that removes the rights of 55,000 education workers to collectively bargain and to take meaningful job action. The bill prevents workers from accessing the labour board, which is an independent third party that resolves disputes between employers, employees and unions. Most controversially, the bill also pre-emptively uses Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms—commonly known as the Notwithstanding Clause—to block the union from challenging the constitutionality of the bill in court. If workers contravene this heavy-handed legislation by going on strike, they could be fined $4,000 a day, and their union $500,000. The Progressive Conservatives (PCs) went to extreme lengths to pass the bill before education workers would be in a legal position to strike Friday. Ford’s government shortened the length of time the bill was debated in the legislature; started debates as early as 5 a.m.; extended the legislature’s sitting hours until midnight; and prevented the bill from going to committee, a normal part of the legislative process, when members of the public and stakeholder groups get to comment on the proposed law. https://breachmedia.ca/doug-fords-attack-on-workers-is-a-canadian-tradition-taken-to-new-extremes/