With a strike deadline set for Sunday, November 20 at 5 p.m., bargaining between the Ontario government and 55,000 education workers is coming down to the crunch.
Wage issues have already been settled at the bargaining table, according to news reports. Now, the sticking point comes down to staffing.
The union wants to see an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom and is also calling for more educational assistants, librarians, custodians and secretaries in schools across the province. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) pegs the cost for this help for students at $100 million. Averaged across the 4,400 schools where CUPE members work, that’s less than $23,000 per school.