Province's education workers will begin job action Sept. 10

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 4, 2015
By Chris Traber

As if the start of the new school year wasn’t stressful enough, York Region elementary and secondary students and their families should brace themselves for job action by education workers.

CUPE education workers in Ontario served notice last night that provincewide job action will begin on Sept. 10

"Our members' work is important to student success in our schools," CUPE's Ontario School Boards co-ordinating committee chairperson Terri Preston said. "We need all parties to understand how serious our members are about the services we provide and being treated with respect at work."

The committee, negotiating on behalf of 55,000 CUPE workers, filed their intentions with the province and the Council of Trustees Association Thursday evening. Under the new School Board Collective Bargaining Act, the union has to provide five days notice prior to any job action.

On Aug. 29, CUPE locals representing education workers across four School Board systems in Ontario voted on a plan of escalating job action beginning the first week of school.

"We're moving forward with this plan and the first step begins with work-to-rule on Sept. 10," Preston said.

The workers have been without a contract since Aug. 31, 2014, explained CUPE 1734 president Todd Canning, who represents education support workers in the York Region District School Board.

The workers’ issues include the position that their concerns aren’t being taken seriously, exclusion from provincial government discussions and a lack of bargaining days, he said.

The Sept. 10 job action is a first phase work-to-rule campaign, Canning said. As such, the membership will only work assigned hours, will not take work home or volunteer time and will take all breaks and lunch hours. Further, the workers will only take any overtime in cash as opposed to lieu time, will not allow volunteers to do their work and will not attend any unpaid meetings. Workers are also being told to work at a safe pace and perform one task at a time and not do the work of fellow union members.

The next bargaining dates for the Central Provincial Table are Sept 10 and 11 and 15 to 17, Canning said. During those times, members are being asked to wear pink in solidarity, he added. At the local level, the next bargaining date is not until the end of September.

Education workers represented include educational assistants, office administrators, custodians, trades people, instructors, library technicians, early childhood educators, IT specialists, speech pathologists and many others.

CUPE represents education workers in elementary and secondary schools in public and Catholic boards in the French and English systems.

They help keep the schools safe, clean and well organized while providing extra support to ensure all students have the opportunity to reach their potential, said Preston.

For local CUPE information, visit 1734.ca.