Parents and guardians of students at Trillium Lakelands District School Board as well as Near North District School Board are being advised to prepare for online learning and school closures if education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) go on strike this Monday.
Talks between the Province and CUPE broke down once again. In a statement on Wednesday, CUPE said they were able to reach a middle ground with the Province on wages, “despite that progress, the government refused to invest in the services that students need and parents expect, precipitating this escalation.”
Education Minister Steven Lecce blamed CUPE for adding more to the table.
The Province’s latest offer includes a flat annual increase of 3.59 per cent for all workers, which the union has accepted. Lecce said the agreement would cost $335 million over four years, and the province has not asked for any concessions in return. But CUPE is asking for more money for services.
“If this government was serious about their plan to catch up, they’d listen to the workers who do the most to support learners and they’d put an early childhood educator in every kindergarten class and provide more students with the direct support of an educational assistant,” said Laura Walton, educational assistant and president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU).
“We’ve heard from parents desperate for these improvements. We felt their support at our protests across the province. And we’re not going to turn our backs on students, parents, and families,” she added.
What education workers want:
- enough educational assistants so all students get the supports they need and so schools could stop sending kids home because there isn’t an EA available;
- an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom so every four- and five-year-old would get the play-based learning support that’s especially necessary now after two years of pandemic isolation;
- enough library workers to make sure school libraries are open and reading opportunities are available to kids all the time;
- enough custodians to keep schools clean and enough maintenance workers and tradespeople to begin to tackle the $16 billion repair backlog; and
- adequate staffing of secretaries in school offices and enough lunchroom supervisors to keep students safe.
The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act requires that workers employed by school boards give five days’ notice before beginning a job action, which means a strike is possible starting on Monday, November 21 if the parties are unable to reach a deal.
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