Peel District School Board Comments On CUPE Education Workers’ Strike

Published September 24, 2019 at 6:02 pm

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According to the Peel District School Board, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents education workers in Ontario, has not informed the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association that they plan to take any job action.

“You may be hearing about potential Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) job action in schools across Ontario beginning next week. In the Peel District School Board, CUPE represents administrative assistants, library technicians, custodial, maintenance and AV repair staff. Although CUPE includes Early Childhood Educators in other school boards, they are not represented by CUPE in the Peel board,” says the board.

CUPE must inform of any job action five days in advance, but has not done so yet.

“If we become aware of any job action, we will communicate with staff and families as soon as possible. We want to be able to share what the job action is and the possible impacts it will have on learning and working in Peel schools and work sites,” says Peel District School Board. 

Earlier this month, around 93 per cent of its 55,000 members voted in favour of job action due to the province’s recent decisions (regarding average class sizes, shifts towards online learning models and a gradual reduction in the number of working teachers), which means they could take a legal strike position as of Sept. 30.

Earlier, the CP said that CUPE requested what is known as a “no-board report,” which starts a countdown toward a potential strike.

Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, expressed disappointment with CUPE’s announcement.

“As the school year begins, it is important that parents, students and educators know that I remain on their side, committed to keeping kids in the classroom,” Lecce said in a statement. “I am disappointed that CUPE has decided to take this action, however, I am pleased that an agreement was reached with CUPE and the school boards to appoint Bill Kaplan as a mediator.”

The government is also in the process of bargaining with several unions that represent teachers.

Contracts with teachers unions expired on Aug. 31.

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