Ontario families face weekend of uncertainty as 2nd education workers' strike looms

Some parents in Ontario are concerned about further learning disruptions for students as a possible strike by education workers looms.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has said 55,000 of its workers — including education assistants, early childhood educators and custodians — will walk off en masse on Monday if a deal with the province isn't reached by 5 p.m. on Sunday.

It would be the second time that CUPE's education workers go on strike this month. Hundreds of schools were closed to in-person learning for two days when workers walked off the job in response to the government enacting a law that imposed contracts on them, banned them from striking, and used the notwithstanding clause to allow the override of certain charter rights.

Several school boards — including Canada's largest, the Toronto District School Board, as well as the Peel District School Board — have said learning will move online next week in the event of another walkout by CUPE, which filed a strike notice earlier this week after talks with the province broke down again.

Mississauga, Ont., parent Shabnam Shafi, whose two children attend Westacres Public School in the Peel board, is concerned about more learning disruptions if another strike goes ahead next week.

"It's really not nice for the kids, them going on strike again," said Shafi, whose children are in senior kindergarten and Grade 2, outside the school Friday.

"But [the union] should get what they're asking, I think they have to negotiate and they have to reach a deal that's good for everybody. The kids need to be in school."

CUPE says both sides have agreed to a $1-per-hour raise each year or about 3.5 per cent annually, but the union is still fighting for higher staffing levels for educational assistants, librarians, custodians, secretaries and early childhood educators.

"We've been fighting for this for over five months, but … the workers are worth more than an extra looney," CUPE spokesperson Laura Walton said Friday on CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

"They deserve more than a looney, and it's a good start in the right direction, but we're hoping that we can push a little bit more because you know, it doesn't keep them up with inflation."

After two years of classroom disruptions because of the pandemic, and then the recent walkout, Charles Chung is worried about getting children back into a routine.

"Bottom line to me is we're trying to get back to some sort of normalcy and it seems like the government won't even talk," said Chung, while dropping off his child, who is in Grade 2, at Westacres.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce has said the government has put forward multiple improved offers and has not asked for any concessions.

Despite his concerns over learning, Chung said he supports CUPE "100 per cent" in its demands for higher staffing levels, which include having an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom.