Bargaining Updates

Download the full proposals here For a brief summary of the proposals, click here

The summary does not capture all details of each proposal, nor does it capture every single proposal that was presented to the Council of Trustees Associations and the Ministry of Education negotiators.

We will walk you through the rationale for our proposal on wages to show why what we have put forward is reasonable, necessary, and affordable. Our last meeting it was suggested that the employer and crown had concerns about the cost of our proposal. We believe this presentation will demonstrate quite clearly that our proposal is affordable for the province. For our members it is simply not affordable to accept anything that is not a substantial wage increase. A decade of wage restraint has put our members in financial distress. Inflation is high and rising, putting far too many of our members on the brink of poverty.

Frontline education workers are not holding a strike vote on August 22. We know that workers understanding and using our collective power is crucial to winning long overdue gains for students, Ontario families, and each other, so we’re gathering to discuss what our response might be if the Ford government keeps delaying getting a deal done into the fall.

We thought it would be no-brainer for both parties – workers representatives and the bosses – to quickly accept the same central scope as last time. But something as simple as this became another opportunity for the provincial government to delay. They figure that they can prolong the start of discussions about real issues that matter to you and kids’ caregivers even longer by dragging out today’s first meeting into a second unnecessary meeting weeks from now. (By the way, they haven’t even agreed to a next meeting date yet). As for the ground rules, your bargaining team made it clear that workers will not accept a “media blackout.” Instead, those of us who are at the negotiating table on your behalf intend to be very open and transparent with the whole CUPE-OSBCU membership.

Send a message to the premier and education minister now.