The union that represents 55,000 education workers in Ontario has given five days’ notice of a potential province-wide strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents early childhood educators, custodians, librarians, and administration staff announced Sunday that a strike could start as soon as Friday.
“We served notice to bargain June 3, the day after the provincial election and the first day we could legally do so,”said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions in a statement Sunday.“We have been urging the Ford government to reach a deal with us for 150 days, but so far they keep saying ‘no’ even though they could easily afford to say ‘yes’ given their $2.1 billion surplus.”
The union is asking for an 11.7 per cent wage increase, about $3.25 more an hour. The province offered a two per cent increase for those who make more than $40,000 an hour and 1.25 per cent more for all other members.
CUPE argues its members have already taken an 11 per cent pay cut between 2012 and last year.
“No one wants to strike, least of all the lowest-paid education workers who can barely pay our bills,” said Walton. “Still, we need a significant wage increase and we deserve it.”
Bargaining between the union and the province is scheduled to resume on Tuesday after sessions with a mediator last week broke down with both sides still far apart on wages.
The union released the results of a provincewide vote on October 3. Education workers voted 96.5 per cent in favour of a strike.
