Support workers in many Ontario schools are ready to defy a provincial law that uses the notwithstanding clause to bar them from striking, the Canadian Union of Public Employees said, and several large school boards told parents to prepare for a return to virtual classes. (The Logic)

Talking point: CUPE’s 55,000 education workers in Ontario are the first to reach the brink in labour negotiations, but thousands of teachers are also working on contracts that expired in August—deals that came after the COVID-19 pandemic overtook fights that had already disrupted classes in 2020. Inflation has squeezed household budgets and Ontario’s new Keeping Students in Class Act would impose pay hikes on CUPE members well under the current cost-of-living increases. The Ontario Progressive Conservatives enjoyed considerable private-sector union support in their spring election campaign, but the bill is souring that relationship.