OTTAWA (Reuters) – The government in Canada’s Ontario province on Monday offered to rescind the controversial notwithstanding clause from a law passed last week that imposes a contract on education workers, if the union agrees to end a standoff that started on Friday.
The Ontario government passed a law last week that imposes a contract on some 55,000 workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and prevent them from going on strike.
The legislation has been widely criticized for its use of the so-called notwithstanding clause, which allows a provincial government to override certain aspects of Canada’s Charter of Rights.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa)