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Tue Nov 6 2012
Dear Editor:
I’ve worked as a custodian for the Peel District School Board for 14 years. I want to be clear that Bill 115 isn’t just about teachers.
It stripped away the rights of all education workers and has created an unnecessary crisis. Bill 115 is an attack on my rights as a taxpaying worker as it removes the ability of myself and my colleagues to legally bargain a collective agreement with our employer. The government stripped away the rights of support workers – the lowest paid workers in the system – when the Liberals, in tandem with the Conservatives, passed Bill 115. Bill 115 represents a direct assault on the work that I do. We are the first staff arriving at schools in the morning, the last staff to leave at night and we perform physically demanding jobs, sometimes in harsh conditions. You don’t have to be a constitutional lawyer to see that Bill 115 undermines education workers’ rights. This is not about putting students first! This is all about cutting services and breaking unions. If they can do this to your school’s custodian or secretary, who will be next? The assault on the education workers of this province who have worked hard to build one of the best systems in the world must stop! This attack on democratic rights must stop! The Liberals must allow unobstructed collective bargaining to continue between the education workers in our community and our local school board. Bill 115 is about cutting billions of dollars from services that Ontarians rely on every day.
