'I don't like this deal': CUPE says tentative agreement with province still falls short

The union representing 55,000 Ontario education workers reached a tentative deal with the provincial government Sunday, averting a strike that had been planned for Monday.

• For a full story about the last-minute deal and what comes next follow this link.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said the deal was no different than what the province offered last week before the union issued a five-day strike notice. That walkout, which would have come two weeks after another one, was planned because the union said it was trying to secure staffing level guarantees.

But there was ultimately no movement on that front during talks throughout the weekend, said Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU).

“As a mom, I don’t like this deal. As a worker, I don’t like this deal. As the president of the OSBCU, I understand why this is the deal that’s on the table. I think it falls short and I think it’s terrible that we live in a world that doesn’t see the need to provide services to kids that they need,” she said Sunday evening.

“But we will always put workers first, we will always put our students first and that’s why there will not be a strike tomorrow. That’s why we’re taking [the deal] to the workers and that’s why we hope to have the ratification vote completed by [this coming] Sunday.”

Walton said the provincial government was “not willing to budge any further” when it came to committing money to new services and staffing guarantees in schools.

However, Education Minister Stephen Lecce told reporters on Sunday evening that the tentative agreement did provide “incremental wins” and “positive outcomes” for both sides.

He did not provide specific details about what is contained in the tentative agreement due to the fact that it still has to be ratified by CUPE members.

“This is not about unions winning or government winning; it is about our kids and they are going to be learning in class tomorrow where frankly they always should have been,” he said. 

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE DEAL

The tentative agreement comes with a $1-per-hour raise each year, or about 3.59 per cent annually, over the course of four years.

Walton announced last week that the two sides had been able to agree on wages, but said CUPE was also looking for $100 million in guarantees of higher staffing levels for educational assistants, librarians, custodians and secretaries, as well as an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom rather than only those with more than 16 students.

Walton said the deal doesn’t include those guarantees, but it’s unclear what else is included in the agreement aside from the wage increases.

CUPE had originally been seeking annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent as well as overtime at two times the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and ECEs, an increase in benefits and professional development for all workers.

The government's original offer contained raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others and sought a concession on short-term disability. The government had wanted to institute a five-day "waiting period" for the leave, during which a worker would receive 25 per cent of their normal pay and 90 per cent for the rest of the 120 days.

Lecce said the biggest beneficiaries of the tentative deal are Ontario students, who will not have to miss class due to a strike.

"All parties, the government, union, trustees, all parties leave this tentative agreement with positive outcomes for what we were trying to advance," he said at a Sunday afternoon press conference. "I think all parties have been able to receive some incremental wins."

Walton was asked Sunday whether she thought it was her responsibility to bring back the best deal possible to CUPE members, to which she replied: “I think the key word in there is possible.”

“When you’re being told by the government that there is no possible way that they’re going to improve, then you have to do the right thing as a leader, which often is very uncomfortable, and you need to bring it forth to the workers to use their voice,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press.