Toronto: About 55,000 education workers in Ontario, including custodians, early childhood educators, and administration staff, will reportedly be in a legal strike position as of Nov. 3, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said Monday.
It has not been indicated by CUPE if education workers would engage in a full strike causing potential school closure or take some other course of action.
Assisted by a mediator, talks are still in progress with three days of bargaining scheduled between Monday and Wednesday.
In 2019 During the last round of contract negotiations, CUPE and the government had reached a last-minute deal the day before workers had been set to go on strike.
Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce reported saying that he hopes CUPE brings forward reasonable requests during negotiations.
“Like parents, we believe strongly that students deserve to be in class catching up on their learning and are disappointed to hear the education union reconfirm to parents their intention to impose a strike on kids and their families,” Lecce wrote in a statement.
About 55,000 education workers in Ontario, such as custodians, early childhood educators and administration staff, will be in a legal strike position as of Nov. 3, the Canadian Union of Public Employees said Monday.
CUPE has not indicated if education workers would engage in a full strike – which could potentially close schools – or start with a work-to-rule campaign, or take some other course of action at that point.
Assisted by a mediator, talks are still in progress with three days of bargaining scheduled between Monday and Wednesday.
In 2019, during the last round of contract negotiations, CUPE and the government reached a last-minute deal the day before workers had been set to go on strike.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he hopes CUPE brings forward reasonable requests during negotiations.
“Like parents, we believe strongly that students deserve to be in class catching up on their learning and are disappointed to hear the education union reconfirm to parents their intention to impose a strike on kids and their families,” Lecce wrote in a statement.
In response to CUPE’s demand for annual salary increases of 11.7 percent, the government has offered raises of two percent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 percent for all other workers.
Several other proposals were made by Education workers including overtime at two times the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and ECEs, and an increase in benefits and professional development for all workers,
“We started mediation this morning and we still want to reach a negotiated agreement that will guarantee service improvements for students, help solve school boards’ problems hiring and keeping qualified employees, and secure a significant wage increase for the lowest-paid frontline education workers that’s long overdue,” Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions has said in a written statement.
The four major teachers’ unions are also in the bargaining process with the government at various points, after the expiry of the contracts on Aug. 31.
#Ontario; #EducationWorkersStrike
