TORONTO, October 31, 2022 – The Amalgamated Transit Union Canada (ATU CANADA) stands in solidarity with CUPE/OSBCU and its 55,000 workers in the fight for fair collective bargaining. Workers are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of inflation skyrockets and puts greater pressure on front-line workers to bear the burden of failed decisions that governments in Ontario are making.

Education and transit workers care about the nearly two million students that may be affected, whether it’s learning or getting them to school safely – but we will not stand for Minister Lecce and Premier Ford’s attack on collective bargaining in Ontario.

Minister Lecce and Premier Ford need to stop bullying, intimidating, and threatening union workers from the freedoms enjoyed by their constitutional rights to negotiate and lobby for a fair contract.

As Minister Lecce enjoyed a 10.2% increase in 2020, bringing his wages from $150,531 to $165,851 annually, it is extremely hypocritical of him to suggest that a 2.5% increase is adequate for the lowest-paid education workers, while the cost of inflation sits at 7%, leaving workers even further behind.

“Stripping workers of their constitutional right to negotiate is not something the ATU will stand for. We remain steadfast in our fight to represent workers in this province and defend the collective bargaining process,” says John Di Nino, President of ATU Canada.