CUPE workers strike in Windsor-Essex with some classes cancelled Friday

Some students are out of class today and parents are awaiting updates as education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) gathered at picket lines early Friday morning in defiance of provincial legislation.

At least 100 workers began gathering outside of  Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie's office this morning — one of about 100 locations CUPE members planned to gather at across Ontario. 

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, where 400 staff including educational assistants are represented by the union, has closed schools for the day.

The board said all non-CUPE staff are expected to report to work and students can expect their teachers — who are not part of the union — will provide online assignments for the day. 

The city of Windsor is offering child care at three locations: the Optimist Community Centre, Forest Glade Community Centre and the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex. Parents can register online or show up at one of the centres.

Schools in the Greater Essex County District School Board are open. Around 600 employees including secretaries and maintenance workers are part of the union, but not educational assistants or early childhood educators.

The French Catholic School Board, Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, is conducting online learning for elementary and secondary students, while the French public board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde, said on Monday that it has the capacity to keep schools open for a few days in the event of a strike.

CUPE says its members will picket outside the offices of MPPs across the province on Friday, and some other unions in the province are vowing to support them.

The strike comes after mediation between the Ontario government and CUPE failed to result in a deal. 

The province passed a bill Thursday to impose a new contract on the workers and make it illegal for them to strike.

Deandre Dailey, a custodian in the Windsor-Essex public board who said he'll be taking part in the job action, wants to see wages rise. He spoke out against the legislation.

"It's it goes against the rights, the freedom that everybody's fought for already," he said on Thursday. "I think that you can't go against that."

Union leaders said education workers will be off the job "until our members decide otherwise."

"We are on strike until this government recognizes that you can put in all of the legislation in place, but you cannot control a worker movement that is so fed up with your overreach," said Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions, which represents 55,000 education workers.