Education Minister Steven Lecce tentatively tabled legislation Monday afternoon that would “end any ongoing strike” by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and impose a new four-year collective agreement on the roughly 55,000 members represented by the union. But at a press conference held at Queen’s Park after the Keeping Students in Schools Act was tabled, CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn promised that school support staff still plan to walk off the job Friday.
Stephen Lecce’s press conference has been postponed until 2:30 p.m. Watch live at CTVNewsToronto.ca
“On Friday, regardless of what this legislation says, our members will participate in a protest across the province. That means no CUPE teachers will be on the job. Instead, we will take a stand for public education for us and for our future “Our union and others have been effective in challenging governments in court and we have won, but too late for workers. Enough is enough. We may actually challenge this in court, but we will challenge it in our communities first. We are not going to allow our rights to be legislated.” The move to introduce back-to-work legislation comes on a day when CUPE provides the required five days’ notice to officially launch industrial action. While CUPE has vowed to fight the legislation, the Ford government has indicated it will invoke the nullity clause to protect the bill from legal challenges. CUPE represents around 55,000 school support staff, including custodians, nursery teachers, teaching assistants and administrative staff. The workers have been without a collective agreement since August 31, and despite several rounds of talks, a new one has yet to be negotiated. Among other things, CUPE wants an annual wage increase of $3.25/hour (11.7 percent), preschool teachers in every kindergarten classroom, five extra paid days before the start of the school year, 30 minutes of paid daily prep, an increase overtime and an investment of $100 million to create new jobs. The province’s latest offer, proposed in an emergency mediation session Sunday afternoon, is a four-year deal that includes a 2.5 percent annual raise for workers making less than $43,000 and a 1.5 percent annual raise for those making more. That’s up from their original offer of a two percent annual raise for workers making less than $40,000 and a 1.25 percent raise otherwise. After Sunday’s meeting, Lecce said CUPE had not accepted the government’s “most generous” offer and still intended to strike from Friday. He then said the government had “no choice but to introduce legislation which will ensure that pupils stay in class to catch up on their learning”. Back-to-work legislation is expected to be passed by Thursday, preventing a strike. “We believe that children deserve to be in the classroom. That’s why we gave CUPE a chance yesterday and presented a better deal, 10 percent over four years and keeping the best benefits and pension and sick leave programs in the country,” Lecce said during question period this morning of Monday. This is breaking news. More information to follow.
