Some 57,000 school support staff are set to take a strike vote in November.
The decision was made at a weekend leadership meeting of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions as negotiations with the province remain in limbo, president Joe Tigani told the Star in an interview Sunday afternoon. The online vote will take place Nov. 4 to 18.
The support staff union is the third to announce a strike vote, after the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario last week.
“I think this should send a message to the government that we’re serious,” Tigani said.
The five big education unions had asked that bargaining begin early, in March, but the province said it wanted the usual June start. All contracts expired at the end of August.
However, talks barely got off the ground, with the unions saying the government wants to add a number of items to central negotiations that have typically been hammered out locally under the province’s two-tier bargaining system. They’ve since asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to rule.
While the labour board could take weeks or months, Tigani said he anticipates a decision will come early to mid-November.
While a strike vote does up the ante, no job action can be held before several more steps are completed, including meaningful negotiations; meaning no work-to-rule or strike can happen in the immediate future.
Emma Testani, Calandra’s press secretary, has previously said the province respects the unions’ rights to take their case to the labour board, “but this process has delayed the start of bargaining. Once the process has concluded, we will be ready and willing to negotiate whenever the unions are ready to begin.”
However, she also has said “premature strike threats do not serve the interests of students and do nothing but create unnecessary panic for parents. Our focus is where it should be — getting to the table and reaching a deal that keeps students in the classroom.”
Tigani said “we don’t take the decision lightly, and we know that parents will be concerned … The message is: This is a strike vote. This doesn’t mean there will be a strike; it’s not imminent.”
A strike, he added, would “be the last recourse.”
The Catholic teachers’ union will hold an online strike vote Nov. 12 and 13, and the elementary teachers between Nov. 9 and 18.
