School unions outline priorities
Support staff first up in negotiations, which will have ripple effects in upcoming talks for teachers
An end to hybrid learning. Smaller classes. More supports for classrooms, especially as high school classes are destreamed. And salary increases that take into account the limited raises in their last contract — their one per cent yearly boost that was part of provincial wage cap legislation — and rising inflation.
These are some of the bargaining priorities for teacher unions as they negotiate with the government, and as their support-staff counterparts are already exchanging offers with the province and school boards.
But the 1.25 or two per cent annual wage offer the government put forward Monday to CUPE — which represents 55,000 support staff — is not enough, the unions say.
CUPE support staff earn an average of $39,000 a year, but that figure includes part-time workers.
“It’s interesting because with CUPE being at the table before us, we might have a look into the future with it,” said Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
“But (the wage offer) certainly doesn’t reflect the words of the premier or the minister of education, saying that we’re going to be respectful and make sure that we are supporting public education. It’s actually not paying any type of respect to the lowest-paid workers who keep the education system going.”
She said “it’s nowhere near inflation or the cost of living … it doesn’t do anything to address the increase in gas, or groceries or interest rates or anything else. So it’s very challenging.”
Full-time teachers earn an average of almost $94,500. Younger teachers have continued to move up the salary grid based on education and years of experience, and overall wages have been capped at one per cent in the last contract.
Talks for all teacher unions are still in the early stages, but she hopes offers might have been tabled by mid-September. All education union contracts expire at the end of August, and it is unlikely that any new ones will be negotiated by then.
“I’m optimistic; I’m not worried yet,” added Littlewood. “There is no rush. I don’t want anyone to think that Aug. 31, this is the end, we’ve got to have something by then. In fact, what we need to do is be working with the parties at the table to ensure that we have the best possible support for the students of the province.”
Education Minister Stephen Lecce has said he wants a normal start to the school year, with extracurricular sports and clubs.
No job action is currently in the works, and all unions have said members are free to run afterschool sports and clubs when classes resume in September.
In an interview with the Star, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario president Karen Brown said one concern is that occasional teachers and those who work parttime don’t get benefits such as sick days.
Full-time education staff are entitled to 11 paid sick days, and a further 120 days of short-term disability at 90 per cent pay.
With COVID, a lack of benefits left occasional teachers feeling vulnerable, Brown said.
Brown also said the government’s offer does not fairly reflect the good work of union members throughout the last couple of years in dealing with COVID.
But with ongoing talks, Brown said there will be no union directive against extracurricular activities, though some teachers may re-evaluate their priorities on their own.
“Our members are excited to be back in person,” Brown said. “Some of our members will make personal choices … They might have to consider how they’re going to be engaging.”
The province is offering the lowest paid CUPE workers, those earning less than $40,000, a two per cent raise each year over four years, and a 1.25 per cent raise for those earning more than $40,000. It also wants to change some short-term disability leave provisions, which are costly and which boards have said lead to staffing challenges.
Lecce has said that CUPE’s demands alone would cost more than $4 billion over three years, and applied to other unions — given one contract influences another — would be more than $21 billion.
“What I’m asking for is reasonableness,” Lecce told CP24. “I understand there are short-term inflationary pressures today that we know that will come down over the course of this year, and certainly over the course of the contract. And so I just want us all to be grounded by an element of fiscal sustainability.
“We’re not going to raise taxes, we’re not going to cut services to pay for these things. We just want to come up with a reasonable offer.”
Education enrolment has been steady, but more than 46,000 teachers and staff have been hired in the last 20 years.
CUPE workers average $46.69 per hour for all staff, and $27.87 for permanent staff.
CUPE is also the first union to be planning a meeting — scheduled for Aug. 22 — to discuss endorsing a strike vote.