Ontario education workers give notice to strike again
CBC
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has filed another strike notice, leaving education workers poised to walk off the job again in Ontario, according to both the province's minister of education and the union.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Stepen Lecce said that "only a few days after talks restarted" the union has "filed notice once again to shut down classrooms.
"Since resuming talks, we've put forward multiple improved offers that would have added hundreds of millions of dollars across the sector, especially for lower income workers," Lecce said. "CUPE has rejected all of these offers."
In a statement issued Wednesday morning, CUPE said education workers have given notice of a potential province-wide strike — which could start in five days time.
The statement says CUPE's Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) central bargaining committee was able to reach a middle ground with the province on wages, but alleges the government "refused to invest in the services that students need and parents expect, precipitating this escalation."
In a statement, Laura Walton, an educational assistant and president of CUPE-OSBCU, said the union is focused on both improving jobs for education workers and improving services for students.
"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 said.
The province previously passed legislation dubbed Bill 28 on Nov. 3 in a bid to prevent 55,000 CUPE workers from striking.
But thousands of workers, including education assistants, librarians and custodians, walked off the job anyway, shutting many schools across the province to in-person learning for two days.
Last week, Premier Doug Ford offered to withdraw the legislation if CUPE members returned to work, which they did.
The law was then repealed on Monday.
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