More than 100,000 Ontario Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) workers are set to strike Thursday in reaction to a final government reading Tuesday of a controversial pension bill.

Bill 206 was introduced to the Ontario legislature on Tuesday afternoon for a third and final reading.

"No one's pension is in any danger whatsoever as a result of this legislation," Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Gerretsen said in the legislature Tuesday.

He said pensioners should not be worried about losing money in their pensions.

"Pensioners will not see a reduction in the amount of pensions that they are receiving because of Bill 206," Gerretsen said.

In response, CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan said he will initiate strike action at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

CUPE is protesting the pension initiative that would give police and firefighters, who are members of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), more money and earlier retirement dates. Other public workers are not included in the proposal.

Ryan has said that Premier Dalton McGuinty is putting rules in place that will prevent CUPE from using their pension surplus to negotiate pension plan increases for other members.

If there is a surplus in the pension fund that they want to be able to negotiate what a pension plan will look like.

Local CUPE leaders met Tuesday to reaffirm support for the strike that will include paramedics, snow removal and garbage collection crews, and janitorial workers at schools walking off the job.

While there will be full strike action on Thursday, Ryan would not confirm if that would continue or if there would be a series of rotating strikes.

        Info:

• For a list of schools and services affected by the upcoming CUPE strike please click here.
• Toronto District School Board: A 24-hour hotline has been established to give parents the latest news on the strike. Call (416) 397-2400 For updates.
• Toronto District Catholic Board: A special 24-hour hotline will keep parents up-to-date on the walkout. Call (416) 222-8282, extension 2873 for more information.

"We are coming out of this room today, the one thing that will not be on their agenda I can guarantee you is that this will be a one day protest," Ryan said. "This will not be a one day protest."

That's bad news for parents as the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) will be forced to close 82 schools because they need CUPE operating engineers to maintain temperatures in the classrooms.  The 82 schools house around 40,000 students.

A TDSB official told CTV Toronto on Monday that the strike could affect all of their 558 schools since caretaking staff at all the schools will not be working.

Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, told Canadian Press Tuesday that the province's 100,000 special-needs students will also be affected by the strike.

"I've seen notices from boards all across the province saying that parents of high-needs kids are being advised to keep their children at home in the event of a walkout.''

Addressing the strike threats, McGuinty said Tuesday that his government will not be threatened by CUPE strike threats.

"How often and how frequently should the premier of Ontario then step back every time somebody says 'I'm unhappy with the outcome of that lawful protest so I'm going protest in a way that's unlawful'," McGuinty said.

"I think it would be irresponsible on my part to accept that."

Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory criticized McGuinty for his stance on Bill 206.

"I think it represents a failure of leadership on the part of Mr. McGuinty," Conservative Leader John Tory said Tuesday.

"This legislation still has a number of problems with it in the eyes of a number of groups and I think that nothing would have been lost by spending a few hours or a couple of days sitting down with the relevant parties and discussing those issues."

McGuinty would not say if he would prompt back to work legislation if CUPE workers were to strike.