WELLINGTON COUNTY – Classes at all schools within the Upper Grand and Wellington Catholic school boards were held in-person on Nov. 8 following an agreement reached between the province and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on Monday.
CUPE officials agreed to end strike action after the province agreed to repeal Bill 28, which would have imposed a contract on CUPE workers.
Both sides also agreed to return to the bargaining table.
The Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) had planned to switch to remote learning earlier this week after custodial and maintenance staff, and English-as-a-second-language instructors, went on strike Friday.
Without education workers, the board reasoned, its schools could not operate safely.
“Maintenance staff are essential for keeping our 76 schools safe and operational,” stated a Nov. 6 press release.
“On [Nov. 4] alone, over a dozen maintenance repair issues were reported, ranging from lighting to plumbing and electrical repairs necessary to maintain safe and sanitary conditions in our schools.”
Board communications manager Heather Loney confirmed on Monday there would be no shift to remote learning this week.
The Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) began remote learning on Nov. 7, but spokesperson Ali Wilson confirmed students would return to classrooms on Tuesday.
Staff at St. Joseph, St. Mary (in Elora and Mount Forest) and St. John schools are not represented by CUPE and those schools did not switch to remote learning.
Contracts expired for all major education unions in August and CUPE and the province have been trying to hammer out a deal for the union’s 55,000 education workers since.
When talks fell through, the union announced strike action planned for Nov. 4.
The province responded by introducing Bill 28, the Keepings Kids in Class Act, which would have forced a four-year contract on workers and used the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ notwithstanding clause to make striking illegal.
CUPE Local 256, representing education workers in both Wellington County school boards, went on strike on Nov. 4 and protested around the offices of local members of provincial parliament.
During a Nov. 7 press conference, Premier Doug Ford said his government’s “controversial” legislation would be revoked if the union stopped its strike.
“But,” the premier said, pausing for a beat before continuing, “only if CUPE agrees to show a similar gesture of good faith by stopping their strike and letting our kids back in to their classrooms.”
In fact, CUPE did not prevent kids from entering classrooms; the decision to close schools and switch to remote learning fell onto school boards.
Ford said a deal with CUPE will have “massive impacts on broader public service salaries as well as the government’s ability to invest in services like health care, transit, education and hospital infrastructure, alongside other vital public services.”
He urged the union to “continue to talk with us at the bargaining table” and said the province is willing make a fair deal that “offers more help for lower income workers.”
“We want a deal that’s fair for students, fair for workers, fair for parents and fair for taxpayers,” he said. “And we know we can get there.”
In a press conference with several public and private sector unions following the province’s announcement, CUPE national president Mark Hancock said the union had confirmed the government’s intent to deliver on the offer, bringing triumphant cheers and whistling from those in the room.
Hancock called Bill 28 a “direct threat to workers’ rights and the Charter rights of all Canadians.”
CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions president Laura Walton called the legislation “draconian” and said the union “can confirm that the premier will introduce and support legislation that will repeal Bill 28 in its entirety.”
“As a gesture of good faith to this announcement, CUPE/OSBCU will be collapsing our protest sites starting tomorrow,” Walton said, adding the unions hope the province will respond soonest with a new proposal at the bargaining table.
“We’re here, right now, the time is ticking.”
Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae, who is also legislative assistant to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, told the Advertiser in an emailed statement he’s “glad that CUPE accepted the premier’s offer and has decided to re-join us at the negotiating table.”
Rae confirmed the government will revoke Bill 28 on Nov. 14.
“The province and CUPE should be returning to the bargaining table this week,” Rae added.
Wellington-Halton Hills MPP and House Speaker Ted Arnott declined to comment, stating in an email, in part, that as Speaker, “it is inappropriate for me to make a public comment on an issue that is being debated or is likely to be debated in the House.”
On Tuesday morning, CUPE Local 256 president Bill Foster said “a lot of people are glad to be back” in schools.
“It was touch and go yesterday,” Foster said of the strike. Phone calls and updates were going back and forth all morning as the fluid situation evolved.
“I was at the line and … basically things were happening quick … it was really busy,” Foster said.
Workers were told to “be ready” for the strike to end.
“We didn’t know when it was going to happen, but we figured it would,” Foster said.
Once word arrived, he gave notice to local boards that education workers would return to full duty on Nov. 8. Some workers remained in downtown Fergus until 3pm on Monday, when protesting began wrapping up.
Board directors and trustees warmly welcomed the workers’ return, Foster said, adding he believes parents are happy the UGDSB never had to switch to remote learning.
Now that the province and union have returned to negotiations, Foster is hoping “they come back with a fair deal for everybody.”
In his 35 years as a union worker, Foster said he has never seen anything like the notwithstanding clause being used to bend a government agenda.
“What they did to us they could do to anybody.”
