Over the weekend greater than 250 schooling staff, representing their 55,000 coworkers throughout the province, met to reconfirm their dedication to struggle for respectable wages, elevated companies for college students, and a reinvestment in public schooling after a decade of presidency cuts to schooling funding.
Throughout the convention, delegates unanimously endorsed the OSBCU bargaining staff’s advice to name for a strike vote as an indication of staff’ resolve to attain their affordable, mandatory, and inexpensive proposals for bettering working and studying situations in Ontario’s faculties within the face of excessive inflation and a callously disrespectful provide from the Ford authorities.
Schooling staff’ Proposals for Scholar Success and Good Jobs, if accepted, would:
- Assure elevated companies for college students;
- Defend service ranges in opposition to cuts;
- Assist resolve college boards’ issues retaining and recruiting staff; and
- Improve authorities funding for kids’s schooling after 10 years of actual cuts.
CUPE Nationwide Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick attended the assembly and spoke to the significance of negotiating wage and staffing will increase in mild of years of presidency enforced wage stagnation and hovering inflation charges. “Our members can’t afford to lose any extra buying energy. Our members—particularly these on the backside finish of the pay scale—want a significant wage increase up,” Rennick mentioned. “Our members can’t preserve working in dangerous situations attributable to power underfunding and insufficient staffing ranges.”
In September and October 2021 CUPE–OSBCU schooling staff accomplished a survey on how being paid low wages impacts their lives. 51.4% of respondents mentioned they needed to work at the least one further job to make ends meet. 91% mentioned they’ve confronted at the least one type of monetary hardship due to their low wages. 60% are laid off each summer season with the bulk needing unemployment insurance coverage to outlive (even in one of the best case, EI solely replaces 55% of eligible earnings).
41% have been late making a invoice cost as a result of their wages are inadequate to satisfy their wants. 24% confirmed struggling to pay for fuel or public transit (earlier than the latest spike in fuel costs). 27% of respondents reported having to chop again on meals (additionally earlier than the explosion of inflation in 2022).
OSBCU President Laura Walton reiterated {that a} strike vote, whereas not a assure that schooling staff will withdraw their labour, must be a sign to the provincial authorities and college boards that the established order and concessions usually are not what college students, Ontario households, or staff deserve.
Walton summarized what OSBCU members are ready to strike for “We’re preventing for sufficient library staff to ensure college libraries are open and studying alternatives can be found to youngsters all of the time.
We’re preventing for each four- and five-year-old to get the play-based studying help that’s so mandatory, help that might come from having an early childhood educator in each kindergarten classroom.
We’re preventing for sufficient staffing of secretaries at school places of work and sufficient lunchroom supervisors to maintain college students secure.
We’re preventing for extra custodians, upkeep staff, and tradespeople to maintain your faculties clear and start to sort out the 16.3 billion greenback restore backlog.”
Strike votes for OSBCU members throughout Ontario will happen from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2.
