CUPE reaches tentative deal with Ontario Government averting potential strike

BY PAUL JUNOR

There was much hope and expectation that after the Ford Government repealed the regressive and anti-worker Bill 28 on Monday, November 7^th, that no strikes would occur.

Global News reported that Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated at a news conference on Monday morning, “As a gesture of good faith, our government is willing to rescind the legislation.” This resulted in CUPE calling off the strike which closed public schools across Ontario for two days, Friday, November 4^th, and Monday, November 7^th.

CUPE insisted that it will only accept a one-tiered offer from the government and not a two-tiered one which the Ford government is pushing for, especially for its lowest-paid education workers who make an average of $39,000 annually. Premier Ford stated, “We’re going to focus on the low-paid workers. That’s our goal. You have to differentiate between someone that’s making $40,000 a year versus someone that’s making $100,000 a year. So, I want to work collaboratively with CUPE and other partners to make sure we take care of those lowest-paid workers within CUPE.”

On Wednesday, November 16^th, 2022, CUPE gave a five days’ notice of a potential province-wide strike if a deal was not reached by the deadline of 5 p.m Sunday, November 20^th. In a statement from Laura Walton, President of CUPE stated, “From the beginning, we’ve been focused on improved jobs for education workers and improved services for students. For us, there is not one without the other. It’s incredibly disappointing that the Ford government categorically refused to put money on the table to give students the type of learning environment they need.” She states further, “This is not where we wanted to be. We hoped the Ford government would accept our reasonable, affordable, and necessary proposals five months ago.”

Ontario Education Minister, Stephen Lecce spoke out, “We will do whatever it takes to ensure children continue to learn. The government will do whatever is required to ensure children remain in a safe, stable, positive environment, learning reading, writing and math and really helping to improve over the last two years.”

In a prepared statement on Saturday, November 19^th, Minister Lecce released the following statement.  It reads, “For the sake of keeping kids in the classroom, we have repeated our offer to CUPE, including an additional $335 million pay hike for education workers alone. That’s on top of funding the hiring of nearly 7,000 additional education workers and protecting one of the best pensions, benefits and paid sick leave programs in the country. We need the union to do the same and put kids first by cancelling their second strike in two weeks. After years of difficulty, like all parents across this province, we know that students deserve to be in class on Monday.”

Good news was reported on Sunday, November 20^th President Walton stated, “Today, we’ve reached a tentative agreement with the provincial government. Workers will be in schools tomorrow and there will not be a strike.”

Agreements were reached between both sides on wages, but CUPE did not make headway with respect to guarantee on increased staffing levels. There will be no additional funding for increased services to students in schools. She commented, “For that, to parents and families, all I can say is that I’m disappointed, and so is the entire bargaining committee.”

Ratification of the deal starts on Thursday, November 24^th, and lasts for a few days. CUPE revealed that both sides agreed to a $1-per-hour raise each year which equals 3.59% annually.

Minister Lecce is excited about the good news. He stated at a news conference on Sunday, “This is a positive outcome. We are grateful to all of the parties for working with the government.”