The Ford government is set to pass legislation that will impose a contract on education support workers, but the union says the workers will strike anyway.
The province announced Monday that it will pass what it calls the Keeping Students In Class Act, which would prevent a walkout by 55,000 support workers this Friday. The workers, including custodians, librarians, educational assistants, and administrative staff, are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. At a news conference at Queen’s Park on Monday afternoon, CUPE leadership said the workers will walk off the job on Friday in protest of the government’s imposition of a new contract. It’s not known if the protest will continue the following week.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions. “There needs to be a clear move by this government not to legislate, but to work with families, to work with students, and to work with education workers. And they are ready to fight for as long as it takes for that to happen.”
The Ontario government has offered most workers a 1.25 per cent salary increase except for those making less than $40,000 a year, offering that group a two per cent raise. CUPE has been asking for a raise of about $3.25 per hour.
According to a statement from Education Minister Stephen Lecce, the four year contract that will be imposed on the education workers will include pay raises of 2.5 per cent for workers making less than $43,000 per ear and 1.25 per cent for all others in each year of the contract.
More to come.
