Education workers across Ontario are supporting strike action to back contract demands with the province and school boards.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees says 96.5 per cent of employees, gave their union the strike mandate.
President Laura Walton says 82 per cent of their members voted.
Wages and staffing levels are among the key issues, including;
- enough educational assistants so all students would get the supports they need and so schools could stop sending kids home because there isn’t an EA available
- an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom so every four- and five-year-old would get the play-based learning support that’s especially necessary now after two years of pandemic isolation
- enough library workers to make sure school libraries are open and reading opportunities are available to kids all the time
- enough custodians to keep schools clean and enough maintenance workers and tradespeople to begin to tackle the $16 billion repair backlog
- adequate staffing of secretaries in school offices and enough lunchroom supervisors to keep students safe
Negotiations between the two sides are to resume Thursday.
Walton says there is a process to follow before any job action is taken and they are multiple weeks away from anything happening.
Minister of Education Stephen Lecce responded by saying, “While these results are not surprising given that education unions have voted to hold strikes against families for nearly five decades, we are still extremely disappointed with the results. CUPE is charging ahead with a strike while demanding nearly 50 per cent in increased compensation after two difficult years of pandemic disruptions for students.”
