Ford government, Ontario school support workers expected to resume talks after latest CUPE offer

KEY FACTS

The province and the union representing 55,000 school support staff are expected to return to mediated talks Wednesday morning, after CUPE presented its latest offer.

Negotiators were holed up in different rooms in a downtown Toronto hotel on Tuesday afternoon and evening with a mediator shuttling back and forth as last-ditch discussions resumed with the threat of back-to-work legislation and an imposed contract looming — as well as CUPE’s threat of a strike day on Friday.

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) passed a revised offer late in the evening before talks shut down for the night, said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s school boards bargaining unit.

“We are working away, trying to find somewhere that we can meet halfway,” she said in a telephone interview on Tuesday night, adding a planned Friday protest will go ahead unless a deal is reached — a protest that will shutter public and Catholic schools in Toronto for the day.

“We’ve spoken to the mediator on a number of things and he has been going back and forth,” Walton said. “The team is working with the mediator to try and achieve a negotiated agreement … I don’t think any good comes from a legislated agreement.”

A source said the government will review the offer and will have more to say on Wednesday after negotiators have had time to look at it, “see what they’ve put forward, and go from there.”

News that talks could restart came earlier Tuesday, as Premier Doug Ford thundered against CUPE leaders — and his government continued to push through controversial legislation that would ban the workers from striking and impose a four-year contract on them.

“Our party differentiates between labour and labour leadership,” Ford said in the legislature. “We support the front-line labour folks. We support the fact that the front-line folks get 131 days of sick days” — a figure that includes short-term disability leave.

“We’re OK with that. But what we don’t support is the unreasonable request from CUPE leadership that they demand a nearly 50 per cent increase” in salary and other benefits.

If there is a strike, “we’re talking over a million parents that would take work off because you want to feather the nest of the heads of the union,” Ford said. “That’s unacceptable.”

Earlier Tuesday, as the Keeping Students in Class Act was being debated at Queen’s Park, sources close to the talks, speaking confidentially to discuss internal deliberations, told the Star that the government was willing to return to the bargaining table should the mediator request it, and if CUPE had a “reasonable offer” and withdrew its threat to strike on Friday. The bill introduced by Ford’s Progressive Conservatives would use the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Even with legislation in place by the end of the week, CUPE says workers will walk off the job on Friday, and that it will cover more than $220 million in daily fines for what would be an unsanctioned job action.

In the legislature, New Democrat MPP Marit Stiles said the government is violating the rights of 55,000 Ontario workers. “Bill 28 is going to hurt them and it’s going to hurt their families,” Stiles said.

“There is no notwithstanding clause for workers who can’t afford to pay their bills.”

But Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government has “a moral obligation to ensure (students) are in school, in front of their teachers, with their friends, learning skills — not at home on a Friday or any day this school year.

“We’ve been very clear in our intention, to stand up for students and parents and ensure they’re in school every day.”

Opposition to the bill from organized labour is mounting, with the Ontario Federation of Labour holding an “emergency rally” Tuesday. LiUNA Canada — the national union whose construction Local 183 supported Ford during the election — said in a tweet that “a fair collective bargaining process is embedded in the history and foundation of labour rights. We strongly encourage an agreement that prioritizes keeping Ontario students in school while respecting the rights of all workers who keep our schools safe, strong and functioning.” Local 183 retweeted that post.

CUPE called for the job action after the government introduced back-to-work legislation, and said its Friday protest will go ahead despite the hefty fines that could result: a $4,000 fine per worker for each day off work, plus a $500,000 daily fine for the union.

Meanwhile, parents are left wondering what will happen.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Linda Akinyemi, a Durham Region parent of children aged seven and 12. “It’s hard on the parents, but it’s equally hard on the students.”

Akinyemi said she is worried about balancing the demands of her work with taking care of her children. Given the recent disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said students and parents “can’t afford for a strike to happen.”

Still, she’s sympathetic to the struggles school support staff are trying to highlight, saying it’s unfair they’re not “adequately paid” for their work.

Leila Stamatakis said the constant disruptions to education during the pandemic and the threat of another on Friday have her thinking about moving her two children out of the Toronto Catholic District School Board and into a private school.

But as someone who sees the value in the public system, Stamatakis said she’s torn.

“I stand with education workers who are making a low wage and who are asking for more money, but the solution can’t be, ‘Well, we’re just not going to go to work,’” she said. “Think about the people that you are affecting.”

Instead of closures Friday, Stamatakis wants to see the province and the union head back to negotiations. “We can’t do this again. It’s just brutal.”

In anticipation of Friday’s threatened job action, the Toronto District School Board is cancelling scheduled students’ overnight trips to its outdoor education centres, which are staffed by CUPE members.

The government’s most recent proposal increased its wage offer to 2.5 per cent each year for those earning less than about $43,000 and 1.5 per cent for those earning more. That was an increase from the original offer of two per cent for those earning less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others. Benefits and pensions would remain largely unchanged.

CUPE, which represents support staff in all boards across Greater Toronto, had been asking for roughly 11 per cent in annual wage increases. Its members are typically the lowest paid in schools, averaging $39,000 a year — although that includes part-time workers. An educational assistant in the Kawartha Pine Ridge board makes almost $35,000 a year, whereas a maintenance trades worker in Hamilton earns more than $56,500.

The union was also seeking increased pay for overtime, as well as more support staff and guaranteed staffing and service levels for students in schools.

CUPE, however, says that the government’s final offer means that well under half of its members would be eligible for the 2.5 per cent yearly increase.

With files from Alessia Passafiume

SHARE:

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)

Sign In

Register

Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the Code of Conduct. The Star does not endorse these opinions.