CUPE Ontario announced Monday that an overwhelming number of members voted in favour of a strike if a collective agreement cannot be reached with the Ford government.
Of the 55,000 CUPE education workers who voted, 96 per cent of them were in favour of a strike mandate if their demands can’t be met.
Education workers include custodians, librarians, school administration staff and bus drivers.
But regardless of what happens at the bargaining table, bus drivers in the Guelph-Wellington area will not be going on strike.
“In the UGDSB, the bus drivers for our Transportation Consortium are non-unionized and the administration staff are part of the OSSTF union,” said Heather Loney, communications manager for the Upper Grand District School Board.
However, custodial maintenance staff, as well as adult ESL instructors, are still at risk of a strike.
Among their demands is an annual pay increase by 11.7 per cent; the government has offered two per cent for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others.
In a news release, CUPE spokesperson Ken Marciniec said more than half of education workers work at least one additional job to make ends meet, while 60 per cent are laid off every summer. Marciniec said they’ve also seen significant wage cuts since 2011.
The workers’ central bargaining committee will return to the table on Oct. 6 to negotiate their collective agreement.
Loney said the "UGDSB will continue to monitor the provincial situation closely."
