An Ontario-wide school strike has been averted following an agreement between educators and school boards.
The central agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has been ratified by school boards and the union, and agreed to by the Government of Ontario, said a provincial government statement.
CUPE represents 55,000 education workers across the province, including custodians, education assistants, early childhood educators, and clerical staff.
Collective agreements between school boards and CUPE include central terms and local terms. The central terms are now resolved. In order to complete the collective bargaining process, local terms need to be reached between each school board and its CUPE bargaining units.
The three-year collective agreements will be effective September 1, 2019, through August 31, 2022.
Agreement Highlights
Compensation and benefits: Under the agreement, CUPE education workers will receive a one per cent wage increase per year for three years. Benefits plan costs will also be held to a one per cent increase in each of the three years of the agreement.
Local Priorities Fund: Reinstatement of the fund that provides $58.7 million per year for three years. This delivers on the government’s promise to protect front-line services by restoring about 1,000 full-time equivalent CUPE positions, including special education workers, clerical and technical staff, and custodial and maintenance employees.
Job protection: Up to $20 million per year for three years for a new Education Worker Protection Fund. This will reinstate about 300 full-time equivalent CUPE positions displaced by the expiry of the job security provisions on August 30, 2019.
Job Security: Jobs will be maintained but may vary through attrition, changes in student enrolment, school closures, and other factors.
Address absenteeism and reduce sick leave usage: The agreement includes a standardized “proof of illness” medical form, at the request of the school boards, for the Short-Term Disability Leave plan. Measures also give school boards the ability to seek additional medical information relating to sick leave or short-term disability leave usage.
Continued support for Community Use of Schools: School boards will continue to receive about $640,000 in each of the three years of the agreement to keep schools open outside of class hours for community use.
Violence prevention training: One-time funding of up to $100,000 to support violence prevention training for employees, advancing the government’s commitment to safe and caring schools for all students and staff.