Ontario’s Education Workers Are Planning to Strike Next Week
Published October 2, 2019 at 2:33 pm
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has announced plans to start striking as soon as next week.
CUPE is the union that represents education workers and has given the required five days’ notice for escalating their job action to a full-fledged walkout that is scheduled to begin on Monday, October 7.
This is, “In the face of mounting evidence that school boards are using education workers’ work-to-rule job action as an excuse to cut programs, services and staffing in Ontario schools,” according to an official CUPE statement.
CUPE also issued an invitation to the province and the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA), urging them to bargain with the union around the clock beginning Friday, October 4, and work throughout the weekend to avoid the disruption that a full strike would bring to students, families and schools.
“I’ll be frank: we had hoped work-to-rule would force the parties to get together and agree to a deal. But that hasn’t happened, and now we’re hearing stories that cause us great concern,” said Laura Walton, the president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, which negotiates centrally on behalf of the union’s school board employees.
“Without any justification whatsoever, some school boards are closing programs and sending workers home. Some boards are paying parents to do the work of CUPE members. Some are asking older students to collect younger students from the school bus. Across the province, boards are cutting services and putting students at risk,” said Walton, as she explained why she and her fellow CUPE members felt they had no choice but to escalate job action.
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Walton, along with CUPE School Board Coordinator Darcie McEathron and CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn, announced the union’s decision in a media conference at Queen’s Park this morning (October 2).
Walton emphasized that she was inviting the CTA and the Ministry back to the table for “some hard, joint work” and assured members of the public, “if there is a deal to be had, CUPE will find it.”
She also noted that the notice is yet more proof that CUPE remains committed to reaching a freely negotiated collective agreement that provides security of services for students and a fair deal for members.
What are your thoughts on the planned strike?
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