Ontario education minister sheds light on tentative CUPE deal

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says that a tentative agreement reached with CUPE over the weekend will provide the union’s lowest paid members with a “significant pay increase” that equals out to about 4.2 per cent annually.

Lecce made the comment to reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday as he discussed the eleventh-hour deal to avert a strike that would have shut down in-person learning in most boards as of this morning.

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CUPE members still have to ratify the agreement, a process which is expected to take until Sunday to complete.

“We're going to respect the ratification process, but I will note that for the lowest paid worker, and I will use their average of $39,000 (salary), this deal would represent a 4.2 per cent increase annually every single year,” Lecce said. “It's a significant increase from where we started and it's what we set out to do, to help the lowest paid workers but all workers do benefit from this deal and frankly all families and taxpayers benefit by having stability for children.”

CUPE has said that the tentative agreement provides a $1 flat rate hourly wage increase for all workers, which would equate to a 3.59 per cent annual increase when averaged out across its membership.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce speaks to journalists at Queen’s Park, in Toronto, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, after a tentative agreement was reached between the Government and CUPE, averting a school strike. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

But Laura Walton, who is the president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), told reporters on Sunday night that the government refused to budge any further “when it came to committing money to new services and staffing guarantees in schools.”

She said that it will ultimately be up to members to decide whether they are comfortable ratifying an agreement that does “fall short” in some areas.

“As a mom, I don't like this deal. As a worker. I don't like this deal,” Walton said.

LECCE CALLS DEAL A ‘WIN, WIN, WIN’

The agreement with CUPE’s leadership was announced just after a 5 p.m. deadline that both sides had agreed to, as part of a commitment to giving parents sufficient notice about a possible strike.

Lecce told reporters on Monday that he believes the tentative agreement is “a win, win, win” for CUPE members, parents and taxpayers.

However, he refused to entertain “hypotheticals” on what might happen if CUPE’s membership was to vote against it.

“I appreciate that could happen. Our aim obviously is to respect the ratification process, let the union leadership speak with their members and have those discussions internally as they always will,” he said.

“The government's message I think is just to say a message of thanks to all the parties for doing the right thing for kids. This has been a tough journey but at the end of day negotiating is always tough. I just think the casualty of our negotiation shouldn't be our kids and I'm very pleased that we were able to do the right thing, come together and put kids first.”

CUPE and the ministry had been in bargaining talks for a total of 171 days.

The union represents more than 55,000 school support workers, including custodians, early childhood educators, and school administration staff.