The Ontario government is being urged to begin talks now on a new contract for Ontario's education workers.
The contracts covering the province's education workers will expire at the end of this summer, and CUPE and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) are calling on the education minister to start the bargaining process early to ensure stability in classrooms and boost student success.
The unions also want the government to come to the bargaining table prepared to increase staffing at all schools in the province to improve supports for students and provide necessary improvements.
President of the OSBCU Joe Tigani tells AM800 News they are making the call to start talks early to provide parents and students some certainty this fall.
"There's no need for chaos; we see every day the effects that understaffing and the underfunding of this government are having. It's time to get to the bargaining table early rather than later," he says.
Tigani says we are seeing the effects of underfunding translating into a staffing crisis in schools across Ontario.
"We are seeing unprecedented levels of school violence, and we need some investment here. We need more caring education workers in school taking care of students with special needs and taking care of buildings; we need custodian maintenance support and IT support. We need to see a real investment back into our schools," he says.
Tigani says they want Education Minister Paul Calandra to come to the table to have meaningful, good-faith dialogue because nobody wants a strike.
"That's why we are trying to provide more opportunity to have conversations with the government and with the school boards to get a deal done before the collective agreement even expires. That would be the ideal situation," he says.
The last round of education bargaining during the 2022-2023 school year was lengthy and included a strike by education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, closing schools for two days.
The unions say they want Education Minister Paul Calandra to use his authority to issue a regulation allowing negotiations to start up to 180 days before the current collective agreements expire on Aug. 31, which means the process could start as early as this week.
Calandra's office says filing for notice to bargain 90 days before contract expiry, as is set out in the labour relations act, would provide enough time to get a fair and reasonable agreement.
Education workers include custodians, early childhood educators, and administration staff.
Along with wages, the unions say in the next contract talks they hope to see measures to improve recruitment and retention and increase resources.
with files from the Canadian Press