Doug Ford, Ontario’s conservative premier, is preemptively sending education workers back to work after their union announced they would go on strike this week. This decision effectively revokes education workers’ collective bargaining rights. Ford is imposing his government’s preferred contract on the union for up to five years, setting a dangerous precedent for labor rights under the rhetoric of children’s need to stay in school.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) represents fifty-five thousand education workers, including educational assistants, librarians, custodians, and early-childhood educators, but not teachers, in Canada’s biggest province. CUPE announced its intention to strike on October 30, giving the government the required five days’ notice before launching its job action.

In response, Ford’s government announced it would use its majority in the provincial legislature, on Halloween, to ram through the so-called Keeping Students in Class Act, imposing draconian penalties on those who strike — $4,000 per person and $500,000 per organization.