Ontario Education Workers To Begin Voting On Deal Thursday (yesterday) Through to December 5th
Courtesy of Barrie 360 and Canadian Press Published: Nov 23rd, 2022
Education workers across Ontario will be voting Thursday through to Dec. 5 to ratify a tentative deal with the province that averted a strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 education workers, says the results of the vote will be released on Dec. 6.
If CUPE’s members vote to reject the deal, the parties could go back to the table and CUPE could give another strike notice.
CUPE has said the four-year deal – which comes with a $1-per-hour raise each year, or about 3.59 per cent annually – was no different than what the province offered last week before the union issued a five-day strike notice.
The workers had walked off the job for two days two weeks ago, shutting hundreds of schools, after the government passed legislation that forced a four-year contract on them and took away their right to strike.
The province used the notwithstanding clause in its legislation to guard against a court challenge, which prompted widespread condemnation from unions across the country – the legislation was eventually repealed.
Excerpt from Barrie 360/Canadian Press Article published November 21st on status of other education worker union discussions:
Teacher Talks Progressing Well, Ontario’s Education Minister Says…Monday Nov. 21
Courtesy of Barrie 360 and The Canadian Press Published: Nov 21st, 2022
… Stephen Lecce said Monday that talks with the four major teachers’ unions have progressed throughout the summer and fall, but those negotiations are at much earlier stages than with the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“CUPE … was more aggressive in negotiating over the past months,” he said after question period.
“So (talks with teachers) are at different stages, but I would submit that they’re in a good place. We continue to work in good faith with the aim of providing a deal that keeps kids in the classroom, that respects our educators.”
CUPE, which represents 55,000 education workers, is set to take its tentative deal – including raises of $1 per hour each year of the four-year contract – to members for a ratification vote starting Thursday. If members vote to reject it, the parties could go back to the table and CUPE could give another strike notice.
CUPE, whose members include education assistants, librarians and custodians, made most of its contract proposals and details of the government’s counter-offers public. But details of bargaining with the teachers are expected to remain scarce as both sides have opted for confidentiality.
Barb Dobrowolski, the president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said talks so far have been “respectful,” and have started to touch on a few non-monetary items, but it is still very early.
OECTA has only had five days of talks with the government so far, and has two dates next week, but in the last round of bargaining the parties met roughly 100 times before a deal was reached, Dobrowolski said. “It’s quite certain that we’ll be bargaining into the new year, and who knows how long that’ll take,” she said in an interview. “I would imagine it could take months.”
Dobrowolski said she is relieved the government “saw the light” in its tense showdown with CUPE and ultimately repealed a law that imposed contracts on the education workers and included the use of the notwithstanding clause to guard against constitutional challenges. “I hope that the government is now committed to negotiating a deal fairly and sees that there’s no need to legislate or impose changes,” she said. “Bargaining works.”
CUPE ended a two-day walkout earlier this month once the government promised to repeal the law, but served another five-day strike notice days later, after union leadership said it had come to an agreement on wages but wanted staffing level guarantees. Talks throughout the weekend failed to secure anything new, and the tentative deal is the same offer the government presented to the union last week.
However, Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said it was time to take the deal to the membership for a vote. News of the tentative deal came a day before CUPE was set to walk off the job for a second time. Schools across Ontario were open Monday and many parents expressed relief.
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