Schools in Mississauga and Brampton will close on Monday in the event of a second education worker’s strike
Published November 16, 2022 at 4:18 pm
Public and Catholic schools in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon will close and transition to remote learning should education workers strike again on Monday, Nov. 21.
The Peel District School Board–which operates public schools in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon–said on its website that staff and students can expect school closures in the event of another education workers’ strike next week.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, which operates Catholic schools across the Region of Peel, also revealed that it’s “[preparing] for a labour disruption and a switch to remote synchronous learning on Monday, Nov. 21” in an update posted to its website.
Both boards closed all of their schools during the last strike, which took place earlier this month after talks between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 55,000 Ontario education workers, and the government broke down.
CUPE’s education workers walked off the job for two days in response to the government enacting a law that imposed contracts on them, banned them from striking, and used the notwithstanding clause to allow the override of certain charter rights. Premier Doug Ford then offered last week to withdraw the legislation if CUPE members returned to work, which they did, and bargaining then resumed.
Earlier today, CUPE, which represents workers such as librarians, early childhood educators and education assistants, filed a five-day strike notice, saying bargaining talks with the province have broken down once more.
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“We respect the work that is carried out each day by CUPE workers to maintain safe and caring learning environments for students, and we respect the collective bargaining process in which unions are currently engaged in with the Province of Ontario,” the PDSB said in an email to insauga.com
“We remain hopeful that the unions and provincial government will be able to reach an agreement that avoids any impact on classrooms. We are monitoring the situation, and as it unfolds, we will share our next steps with our staff and family PDSB communities.”
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, the president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said the agreement on wages is a $1-per-hour raise, which is about 3.59 per cent a year. She said that’s “a win,” but is “not enough.”
“It’s not nearly what we deserve,” Walton said. “(But) this was never just about wages.”
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he was “disappointed” in the breakdown of negotiations.
“We are disappointed that only a few short days after talks restarted, CUPE has filed notice to once again shut down classrooms. 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,” Lecce said in a statement.
“CUPE has rejected all of these offers. We are at the table ready to land a fair deal that invests more in lower-income workers and keeps kids in class.”
Graham McGregor, MPP for Brampton-North, said the Province hopes to reach a deal before Monday.
“We’re disappointed, a little bit exasperated. A few short days after talks restarted, CUPE is filing notice to shut down schools. We said we’d repeal Bill 28 and we did. We said we’d raise wages across the board, especially for the lower-paid workers, and we did. We’ve shown a willingness to put forward better offers and we’re disappointed that the prospect of kids being out of classrooms is on the table,” he told insauga.com, adding that parents are concerned about disruptions after two years of pandemic-related school closures.
“I think our constituents in Brampton hope we get a deal done and that their kids stay in school.”
CUPE said it is still looking for guarantees of higher staffing levels for educational assistants, librarians, custodians and secretaries, and an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom and not just classes that have at least 15 students.
With files from The Canadian Press
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