Parents are preparing for about 55,000 education workers to walk off the job next week if an agreement cannot be reached between the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Ontario government before the strike deadline of ‘this weekend.
A statement from CUPE’s central bargaining committee of the Ontario Council of School Boards Unions on Saturday afternoon says it is still at the table and expects to stay there “until the night” to get the best deal for students, families and frontline education workers.
“While we hope that a strike will not be necessary, we are committed to giving parents as much notice as possible of any industrial action,” the statement said.
“We are encouraged by all those who braved the cold to show solidarity at more than a dozen rallies across the province today, together to urge the [Doug] Ford government to make much-needed investments in your schools.”
Rallies were held throughout the province on Saturday morning in support of CUPE workers. The rallies mark the third week of solidarity action after the Ford government passed a bill in early November that sought to impose a contract and ban a strike by CUPE education workers.
Although the bill was repealed earlier this week, both the union and the government have yet to reach a new collective agreement, with CUPE standing firm in its demand for more staff. The latest round of talks between the province and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will end Sunday at 5 p.m.
Educators and supporters gathered in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square Saturday morning in a rally in solidarity with CUPE education workers who want to reach an agreement with the Ford government. (Prasanjeet Choudhury/CBC)
“If there’s money to extend credits for gas stations, to build freeways, then there’s money to put into our schools to make sure students have the support they need,” said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, on CBC Toronto on Saturday, while participating. at a rally in Yonge-Dundas Square.
“We know it’s more than possible to reach an agreement this weekend.”
Dozens attended Saturday morning’s rally, where the crowd chanted, “What do we want? A good deal. When do we want it? Now.”
Miriam Zemell, an education assistant and school secretary, said she has watched over her 24-year career as student services have declined.
“We’re in these jobs because we really care, we really care about our students,” she said. “I work with a lot of students who face a lot of adversity in their lives. I’m here because I really believe in what we’re doing in public education but we have to get the right supports.”
Parents are preparing for a possible strike
Parents across Ontario are waiting to hear whether or not they will be sending their children to school Monday morning.
If they don’t reach a deal by Sunday’s deadline, education workers will walk off the job the next day, forcing parents like Jessica Lyons to organize extra daycare.
“I have a plan for Monday. I have a plan for Tuesday. But going beyond that, I mean, it’s getting more and more stressful to think about,” he told CBC Toronto.
Jessica Lyons, a mother of three elementary school children in Toronto’s west end, says it’s stressful to organize extra daycare options as a potential strike by education workers looms. (Jessica Lyons)
Last Wednesday, CUPE issued a five-day strike notice after talks with the province broke down once again. That notice came less than two weeks after the union staged a walkout to protest the now-repealed provincial legislation.
Since then, CUPE says both sides have agreed to an increase of $1 an hour each year or about 3.5 percent annually, but the union says it is still fighting for higher staffing levels for auxiliaries educational, librarians, custodians, secretaries and early childhood. educators
What both parties want
“We need to see money invested in the services that students and families need, that they need,” CUPE president Laura Walton told CBC’s Metro Morning on Friday.
“Parents shouldn’t be handed money and told, ‘Go get these services,'” she said. “These services can be provided … in our public schools.”
In a statement issued Saturday afternoon, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province was already funding the hiring of nearly 7,000 more workers in the sector, which he said has one of the best pension, benefits and leave programs paid in the country.
“In order to keep children in the classroom, we have repeatedly improved our offer to CUPE, including an additional increase of $335 million for education workers alone,” the statement said.
“We need the union to do the same and put the children first by calling off their second strike in two weeks. After years of hardship, like all parents in this province, we know that students deserve to be at class”.
The province agreed to offer free childcare to primary school-age children of health care workers with child care licenses, if a strike occurs.
But the ongoing back-and-forth between CUPE and the province has parents like Bronwen Alsop of the Ontario Families Coalition frustrated.
“I want the school to be essential,” he told Radio-Canada. “It’s not something you can … turn on, turn off and shut down just when it’s politically best for your union or for your political benefit. It’s wrong.”
Ontario Families Coalition parent Bronwen Alsop says schools are essential and should remain open while CUPE and the province negotiate a deal for education workers. (Alexis Raymon/CBC)
In light of school closures during the pandemic and issues with remote learning, Alsop said he believes students should remain in classrooms while the union and province negotiate.
For most other students in the province, school boards plan to transition to live online learning, in some cases as soon as Monday.
But in many cases, distance learning is not an adequate replacement for in-person learning,” Lyons said.
She wants to see more permanent solutions.
“Public education needs to be strengthened, it needs more funding,” Lyons said.
“We are on the same side as the education workers because they see it too.”