Ferina Murji says strikes are prohibited amid any contract, not just one reached through collective bargaining. He made the comment on the third day of arguments in what the president of the Ontario Labor Relations Board described as a “frantic and sleep-deprived” hearing to determine the legality of the walkout. WATCHES | Ontario had “no intention of negotiating in good faith” with the union, says CUPE spokesperson:

Ontario ‘had no intention of ever negotiating in good faith’ with union, says CUPE spokesperson

Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Union Council, says the provincial government has been “working more on legislation than negotiations” with the union that represents education workers. Brian O’Byrne heard arguments for 16 hours on Saturday, with the hearing stretching into the early hours of Sunday morning and continuing hours later. Thousands of workers, including education assistants, custodians and librarians, walked off the job on Friday in protest at government legislation that imposed a contract on them and stripped them of the right to strike. Union attorney Steven Barrett argued Saturday that “to call this a mid-contract withdrawal, as if it were a freely negotiated collective agreement, is a fundamental absurdity.”