The union representing educational support staff in Ontario said their strike will continue on Monday and indefinitely until an agreement is reached with the Ford government. Up to 55,000 education workers, who belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), began striking at MPP offices and other locations across the province today, Friday, after contract negotiations ended yesterday. Laura Walton, chair of the CUPE Ontario school board, also said the strike will continue until an agreement is reached or if its members decide otherwise, adding: "We will be here and call on Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce to speak to us, we are more than willing to talk to them. That is why we are giving notice as early as possible, 150 days in advance, but we will not back down." She told CP24 during a protest outside Lecce’s riding office in King City this morning: "We are being intimidated but our rights will not be taken away."

Additionally, Walton added that parents should have an emergency plan for their children in case the strike continues next week. Many school boards across the province had no choice but to close their schools to in-person learning today and until the job action ends. In this regard, a spokesperson for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) told CP24 Friday morning that the board is preparing to move to remote learning if the job action continues next week. "Well, we’re saying now that if the job action continues next week, we will transition as quickly as possible to clearly synchronous live remote learning classrooms, as quickly as possible. So that’s something we clearly want to avoid and make sure there is a current agreement before any further impact next week. But if it continues for some reason, we will put those plans into place as soon as possible," said Ryan Bird. He added, "Today, as you know, we have asynchronous or indirect education in classrooms. It’s independent work at home for today, but again if it extends to additional days next week, we have to be able to transition quickly."

However, in a memo obtained by CTV News Toronto on Thursday, the Ministry of Education requested "all school boards to implement emergency plans, making every effort to keep schools open for as many children as possible."

Furthermore, one of the largest strike sites was at Queen's Park in Toronto where protesters began arriving around 7 a.m. for a full day of protest. Hundreds of demonstrators were seen holding CUPE flags and signs reading "No Cuts to Education" and "I Support Education Workers," with many protesters saying they came out to fight for a better living wage and more government support as the cost of living continues to rise.