Ontario education workers union to release contract ratification vote results
The union representing Ontario’s 55,000 education workers plans to release the result of its contract ratification vote tomorrow.
Online voting opened on Nov. 24 and is set to conclude Sunday, exactly two weeks after the union’s central bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with the provincial government. The deal averted a strike, which was set to get underway on Monday, Nov. 21.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Monday at Queen’s Park.
The union, whose members include custodians, education assistants, early childhood educators, and administrative staff who work in the province’s public, Catholic, English, and French school boards, initially planned to unveil the results on Tuesday.
CUPE officials are recommending members ratify the four-year contract, which has an average wage increase of 3.59 per cent in each year.
The terms of the agreement were mandated into a contract for the workers under Bill 28, the “Keeping Students in Class Act”, which used the notwithstanding clause to make it illegal for workers to go on strike. The province rescinded that bill following two days of protests and a promise to return to talks with the union.
If CUPE members vote to reject the latest deal, both sides could go back to the bargaining table and CUPE could give another strike notice.
“This tentative agreement is our first in 10 years to be freely bargained instead of forced on us with legislative interference,” said Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, in a Dec. 2 release.
“For the last week and a half, frontline education workers have been deciding if what’s in this tentative agreement is acceptable. This – workers having the freedom to negotiate and to withdraw our labour if necessary – is democracy in action.”
Walton, an educational assistant from Belleville, has said she does not like the agreement as it doesn't include new staffing guarantees.
Speaking to briefly to reporters following CUPE’s Nov. 20 no-strike announcement, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the agreement is a “positive outcome for all parties.”
“The biggest beneficiary of this deal is our kids, who are going to have some stability and be able to stay in school,” he said.
“We are grateful to all parties for working with the government. … Kids deserve to be in class and I’m proud to confirm they will be tomorrow.”
Lecce, who would not speak to the specifics of the agreement, said there have been some “incremental wins” for both sides and that “every party leaves the table with something that they wanted to advance.”
“The greatest beneficiary of this deal is our kids who are going to be in school. That's what matters. This is not about unions winning or government winning,” he said, calling the agreement a “material win for working parents.”
Lecce said regardless of the ratification vote outcome, the province government intends to stay at the table and would continue to have “good faith negotiations” with Ontario’s four other key education unions that are currently in contract negotiations.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.