Ontario to table back-to-work legislation for education workers today

The province is planning to table back-to-work legislation today for Ontario’s 55,000 education workers.

This pre-emptive moves comes as the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents custodians, early childhood educators, education assistants, and school administration staff at the province’s public, Catholic, English, and French school boards, announced Sunday morning that its members would go on strike starting Friday, Nov. 4, if a contract agreement with the Ontario government is not reached.

The workers have been without a collective agreement since Aug. 31 and despite several rounds of talks, a new one has yet to be negotiated.

Among other things, CUPE wants a yearly wage increase of $3.25/hour (11.7 per cent), early childhood educators in every kindergarten class, five additional paid days before the start of the school year, 30 minutes of paid daily prep time, an increase in overtime pay, and a $100 million investment in new job creation.

The province’s latest offer, proposed at an emergency mediated session on Sunday afternoon, is a four-year deal that includes a 2.5 per cent annual raise for workers who make under $43,000, and a 1.5 per cent yearly wage increase for those who make more. This is up from their initial offer of a two per cent annual annual increase for workers who make less than $40,000 and a 1.25 per cent raise otherwise.

Following Sunday’s meeting, Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce said CUPE did not accept their “more generous” offer and still intends to strike starting Friday.

He then indicated that they have “no other choice but to introduce legislation (today), which will ensure that students remain in-class to catch up on their learning.”

Kids will be in class. Enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/HFF0OZi2sN

— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) October 31, 2022

According to Lecce’s office, the contract set to be imposed will be a four-year one.

The back-to-work legislation, which is expected to be passed by Thursday to prevent a strike, will be introduced at Queen’s Park at 2 p.m. today.

Laura Walton, a Belleville-based educational assistant who serves as the president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, called the Province’s threat of legislation is a “slap in the face to all workers.”

“Today, the Ford government’s lead negotiators summoned me to a meeting. We went to the meeting optimistic that this government would recognize and respect our right to negotiate,” she said during a Sunday evening news conference. “Instead they gave us an ultimatum. They threatened to introduce legislation to dictate the terms of our next contract as early as tomorrow.”

Walton says that CUPE is prepared to return to the bargaining table Monday to continue talks with the province.

OSBCU 2022 Bargaining Update # 33 | Négociation du CSCSO 2022 – Mise à jour no 33 – Ford & Lecce Attacking Education Workers https://t.co/EGsUC70SQL pic.twitter.com/7Nh3p3cMRW

— OSBCU-CSCSO (@osbcucscso) October 31, 2022

“We are here, just as we’ve been for five months, and we’re ready to get a negotiated agreement that responds to the needs of students and frontline workers,” she said, adding one, least of all education workers themselves, wants a strike, but adds that they need and deserve a significant wage increase.

The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA), which represents English public district school boards and public school authorities across Ontario, said their “top priority is to negotiate a fair collective agreement, that is fully-funded, and in the best interest of our students.”

CUPE first legally served notice to bargain on June 3, the day after the provincial election.

In early October, CUPE announced its members had voted 96.5 per cent in favour of walking off the job if a contract agreement could not be reached with the provincial government.

The union then asked the Ontario Ministry of Labour to grant what is known as a no-board report, which means that a board of conciliation will not be appointed. That go-ahead, which allowed the workers to legally walk off the job in 17 days (Nov. 3), was given on Oct. 17. Five days notice must be given before the union can go on strike.

Last week, mediated negotiations began between the two sides, but broke down after just two days.

All five of Ontario’s key education unions are currently in the midst of bargaining with the province after their contracts expired on Aug. 31.