Laura Walton has served as the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) since 2019. In addition to her role with OSBCU, Laura also serves on the CUPE Ontario Executive Board.
With a firm belief in the equalizing power of inclusive public education, Laura led her 55,000 coworkers across Ontario to withdraw their labour for two days in November 2022 in protest of the Ford government using the notwithstanding clause to ram through legislation that imposed a contract on CUPE education workers.
Frontline workers, a united labour movement, and overwhelming community support compelled a Conservative majority in the provincial legislature to repeal its anti-worker Bill 28 in record time. The lowest-paid education workers ultimately resisted concessions and negotiated a $1 per hour pay increase each year for four years after a decade of legislated wage erosion.
Laura is proud of her rural roots growing up in Belleville where she worked in radio and marketing and supported children with special needs as an educational assistant. Previously she served as president of CUPE Local 1022 which represents the education workers of Hastings and Prince Edward County District School Board.
