CUPE workers, who, on average, earn $39,000, will be in schools next week and the union is committed to reaching an agreement, said union head.
By Isabel Teotonio
Education Reporter
Fri., Sept. 2, 2022
As students prepare to return to class, the union representing Ontario’s school support staff says it will keep fighting for “decent wages,” while the province is calling on it to assure parents that the year won’t be disrupted by job action.
“We are fighting for decent wages, increased services for students and a reinvestment in public education,” said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, which represents 55,000 custodians, office staff, educational assistants and early childhood educators.
“Kids deserve the best professionals in their classrooms and in their schools,” she said during a virtual press conference on Friday. “But education workers cannot be at our best if we’re exhausted, if we are forced to work second or third jobs, just to make ends meet.”
All contracts for education unions expired Aug. 31, although CUPE is farther ahead in negotiations with the province and school board associations than the other unions.
With no new agreement in place, “students have no service security,” Walton says, and school boards “will still have problems keeping and finding employees due to low pay and poor working conditions.”
Still, she says, CUPE workers, who, on average, earn $39,000, will be in schools next week and the union is committed to reaching an agreement.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says, “As students head back to class next week, it is more important than ever for CUPE and all teacher unions to commit to staying in school with students until June.
“We remain committed to landing a deal that keeps kids in class. We have repeatedly asked CUPE to assure parents they won’t disrupt the school year and stay focused on helping kids catch up,” he said in an emailed statement to the Star.
“Instead, at every opportunity, CUPE continues their march toward a strike. We will do whatever it takes to ensure a normal, stable, and uninterrupted return to class for all students. Ontario students deserve nothing less.”
When asked about possible job action, CUPE’s Walton told reporters that the union recently filed for conciliation in the hope that it will force the parties back to the bargaining table for more dates. The union served notice to bargain on June 3, and since then Walton says there have been eight meetings. Talks resume Sept. 16 and then six more days are scheduled before the end of October. CUPE staff will take a strike vote between Sept. 23 and Oct. 2.
When asked later by the Star about assuring parents that there won’t be any disruptions this year, Walton said “education workers have a concrete proposal to settle, on the table, that’s reasonable, necessary, and affordable. Stephen Lecce has the power and resources to accept this proposal. He could and should do that today.”
The union wants a pay increase of $3.25 an hour in each year over three years, or about 11.7 per cent. Their workers typically earn the lowest salaries among school workers, but their average $39,000 annual wage includes part-timers. It recently launched a public campaign called “$39k is not enough.”
The province has frozen public-sector wage increases at one per cent a year for the past several years. It has offered CUPE workers earning less than $40,000 a two per cent raise each year over four years, and a 1.25 per cent annual increase for those earning more than $40,000.
—with files from Kristin Rushowy
Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74
Fri., Sept. 2, 2022
As students prepare to return to class, the union representing Ontario’s school support staff says it will keep fighting for “decent wages,” while the province is calling on it to assure parents that the year won’t be disrupted by job action.
“We are fighting for decent wages, increased services for students and a reinvestment in public education,” said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, which represents 55,000 custodians, office staff, educational assistants and early childhood educators.
“Kids deserve the best professionals in their classrooms and in their schools,” she said during a virtual press conference on Friday. “But education workers cannot be at our best if we’re exhausted, if we are forced to work second or third jobs, just to make ends meet.”
All contracts for education unions expired Aug. 31, although CUPE is farther ahead in negotiations with the province and school board associations than the other unions.
With no new agreement in place, “students have no service security,” Walton says, and school boards “will still have problems keeping and finding employees due to low pay and poor working conditions.”
Still, she says, CUPE workers, who, on average, earn $39,000, will be in schools next week and the union is committed to reaching an agreement.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says, “As students head back to class next week, it is more important than ever for CUPE and all teacher unions to commit to staying in school with students until June.
“We remain committed to landing a deal that keeps kids in class. We have repeatedly asked CUPE to assure parents they won’t disrupt the school year and stay focused on helping kids catch up,” he said in an emailed statement to the Star.
“Instead, at every opportunity, CUPE continues their march toward a strike. We will do whatever it takes to ensure a normal, stable, and uninterrupted return to class for all students. Ontario students deserve nothing less.”
When asked about possible job action, CUPE’s Walton told reporters that the union recently filed for conciliation in the hope that it will force the parties back to the bargaining table for more dates. The union served notice to bargain on June 3, and since then Walton says there have been eight meetings. Talks resume Sept. 16 and then six more days are scheduled before the end of October. CUPE staff will take a strike vote between Sept. 23 and Oct. 2.
When asked later by the Star about assuring parents that there won’t be any disruptions this year, Walton said “education workers have a concrete proposal to settle, on the table, that’s reasonable, necessary, and affordable. Stephen Lecce has the power and resources to accept this proposal. He could and should do that today.”
The union wants a pay increase of $3.25 an hour in each year over three years, or about 11.7 per cent. Their workers typically earn the lowest salaries among school workers, but their average $39,000 annual wage includes part-timers. It recently launched a public campaign called “$39k is not enough.”
The province has frozen public-sector wage increases at one per cent a year for the past several years. It has offered CUPE workers earning less than $40,000 a two per cent raise each year over four years, and a 1.25 per cent annual increase for those earning more than $40,000.
—with files from Kristin Rushowy
Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74
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