Mediation between the Ontario government and education workers has broken down, bringing union employees one step closer to a possible strike.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the bargaining committee said the “parties are too far apart.”
“Unfortunately there has not been any movement by the (Doug) Ford government,” Laura Walton, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, said at a news conference.
The mediator has requested that both parties resume bargaining on Nov. 1, two days before the union will be in a position to legally take job action.
More than 50,000 custodians, early childhood educators and school administration staff who work in public school boards across the province have been without a collective agreement since Aug. 4. In early October, CUPE announced its members had voted 96.5 per cent in favour of walking of f the job if an agreement could not be reached.
The main point of contention is salary. The Ontario government has offered education workers making less than $40,000 a year a two per cent salary increase while all other workers are being offered a 1.25 per cent salary increase.
CUPE, meanwhile, is arguing that employees should be given a $3.25 per hour increase—or an annual increase of about 11.7 per cent.
In a statement, Education Minister Stephen Lecce called his government's offer "reasonable."
"Ontario’s government has a reasonable offer that increases salaries for all workers, while protecting a very generous pension and benefit package, maintaining 131 days of sick pay. Parents can rest assured this government will not waver in its resolve to keep all students in class, where they belong.”
The last time education workers negotiated their collective agreements in 2019, a breakdown of mediation resulted in a work-to-rule campaign in which there was a partial withdrawal of services performed by support staff.
A tentative deal was reached after the union provided notice of a province-wide strike.