CUPE school workers prepare for strike again as talks with province break down
Published November 16, 2022 at 9:44 am
Ontario parents should be ready for another school disruption on Monday as the union representing 55,000 Ontario education workers has filed a five-day strike notice, saying bargaining talks with the province have broken down once again.
Negotiations between the province and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have stalled following weeks of uncertainty and protests that force school closures and a shift to online learning in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, and across Ontario.
The strike could start on Monday (Nov. 21) if no deal is found and the notice isn’t withdrawn. Both the province and CUPE say mediators will continue to negotiate until the strike deadline.
CUPE says it reached middle ground with the government on wages but the notice of a potential provincewide strike comes after what it calls a refusal from the province to “invest in the services that students need and parents expect.”
Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s school boards bargaining unit, said on Wednesday that the province’s latest offer contained a $1 raise per hour for each year of the collective agreement, amounting to $1,633 per year or around 3.95 per cent increase.
Walton said the offer is “a win for workers, but it’s not enough.”
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“We’re fighting for student success and good jobs,” Walton said. “We’ve never been willing to sacrifice one for the other.”
RELATED: Schools to reopen after CUPE calls off walkout; Ford promises to revoke law
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said on Wednesday he was “disappointed” that talks broke down just days after negotiations began again.
“Since resuming talks, we’ve put forward multiple improved offers that would have added hundreds of millions of dollars across the sector, especially for lower income workers. CUPE has rejected all of these offers,” he said, adding the province was “at the table ready to land a fair deal.”
Lecce said the province will remain at the negotiating table and has done “everything in good faith.”
The province passed controversial legislation on Nov. 3 in a bid to prevent 55,000 CUPE workers from striking.
But thousands of workers, including education assistants, librarians and custodians, walked off the job anyway, shutting hundreds of schools to in-person learning for two days.
Lawmakers voted unanimously on Monday to repeal Bill 28 to have the legislation “deemed for all purposes never to have been in force.”
Walton said there’s still time to find a fair deal before the strike deadline.
“This fight started with a focus on services for students. Parents swelled our lines to demand better for their children, and we’re not prepared to back down now,” Walton said. “We will not abandon parents because Doug Ford waved a loonie in our face.”
With files from The Canadian Press
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