Thousands of school support workers could begin job action as early as Monday as the union says talks with the Ontario government “broke down” this week.
The president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Laura Walton, told CTV News Toronto that they will serve the government a five-day notice letter on Tuesday.
The union, which represents custodians, early childhood educators and school administrators, previously said 93 per cent of its members supported job action.
“We would be in a legal strike position on Monday,” Walton said.
Walton said that while union members can legally walk off the job, they expect to begin with a work-to-rule by “not performing any unpaid work.”
“It will still be school as usual, school will be open, classes will continue,” she said. “It’s more of a headache for administration than for parents.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce urged the union to come back to the table.
“Our government remains focused on keeping kids in the classroom and delivering a deal that gives students and parents predictability and certainty. This will not change,” the statement read.
“I urge CUPE and the employers to come back to the table and direct their efforts toward reaching a deal as quickly possible. Our government remains available at any time to restart talks with CUPE and keep students in school.”
The province-wide ballot took place during August and September after union leaders said negotiations with the Progressive Conservative government stalled over funding cuts affecting workers’ hours.
Walton said the central disagreement between CUPE and the government is over the $235 million Local Priorities Fund, introduced by the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government in 2017, as a way to broker peace with education unions ahead of the 2018 election.
While school boards used the fund to hire between 1,600 and 1,830 full-time education workers, the Progressive Conservative government announced in March that board could no longer count on the money and that it would be subject to contract negotiations.
