This is where CUPE is striking in Ontario today

CTV National News: CUPE strike ends Around 55,000 education workers will return to work after the Ontario government backtracks on Bill 28. Heather Butts reports.

Talks between the Ontario government and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) broke down on Thursday.

With no agreement reached, tens of thousands of education support workers – including custodians, early childhood educators, education assistants, and administrative staff – will participate in a province-wide strike “until further notice,” despite it now being illegal to do so.

The Keeping Students in Class Act, or Bill 28, was tabled Monday and passed Thursday afternoon. In it, the notwithstanding clause legislated a four-year contract onto workers while making it illegal to take any job action.

CUPE has been demanding an 11.7 per cent wage increase, equal to roughly $3.25 more an hour across the board.

Under Bill 28, however, the contract sees a 2.5 per cent yearly wage increase for individuals making less than $43,000 per year, and a 1.5 per cent increase for all other employees.

“For the sake of Ontario’s two million students, to keep classrooms open, CUPE has left us with no choice but to pass the Keeping (Students) in Class Act,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said at a news conference today.

Union workers who still choose to strike can each be fined up to $4,000 individually, while unions that organize the strike can get hit with $500,000.

Here is where the picket lines will be Friday across Ontario:

TORONTO

MISSISSAUGA

SCARBOROUGH

BRAMPTON

ORANGEVILLE

ALLISTON

FERGUS

MARKHAM

MILTON

RICHMOND HILL

NEWMARKET

WOODBRIDGE

OAKVILLE

HAMILTON

BURLINGTON

NIAGARA FALLS

ST. CATHARINES

BARRIE

ORILLIA

OWEN SOUND

KINCARDINE

CLEARVIEW

OTTAWA

KINGSTON

BROCKVILLE

SMITHS FALLS

KING CITY

PETERBOROUGH

PICKERING

PORT HOPE

LINDSAY

AJAX

WHITBY

OSHAWA

BOWMANVILLE

STOUFFVILLE

KITCHENER

CAMBRIDGE

WATERLOO

SAULT STE. MARIE

PARRY SOUND

BRACEBRIDGE

MIDLAND

ELMIRA

GEORGINA

NAPANEE

BELLEVILLE

LONDON

STRATFORD

WOODSTOCK

WINDSOR

ESSEX

CHATHAM

LEAMINGTON

ST. THOMAS

SUDBURY

TOWNSHIP OF ESPANOLA

WEST NIPISSING

NORTH BAY

THUNDER BAY

ATTIKOKAN

IGNACE

SIOUX LOOKOUT

RED LAKE

MOOSONEE

BLYTH

EAR FALLS

 NEWMARKET

HOLLAND LANDING

For more information on where to find the nearest picket line, Ontarians can go to CUPE’s Picket Finder website and input their address for a map of where to go.

- With files from CTV Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq