Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks at a ceremony for the unveiling of the Platinum Jubilee Garden at Queen's Park, Toronto, on Sept. 30.Alex Lupul/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has sent a warning to education unions amid a challenging round of bargaining: “Don’t force my hand.”
Speaking at a transportation announcement in Hamilton on Thursday, Mr. Ford pleaded with teachers and education workers to avoid a strike.
“I’m asking the teachers’ unions, please don’t go on strike, don’t force my hand. Just please continue negotiating,” Mr. Ford said when asked by reporters if he would legislate teachers and support staff back to work in the event of job action.
This week, CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, or OSBCU, said its members voted 96.5 per cent in favour to strike if talks with the province breakdown. The union represents 55,000 support staff, including education assistants, early childhood educators and caretakers.
Contracts for all education unions expired at the end of August. The unions, including OSBCU, are in negotiations with the government.
Prior to the pandemic, teachers and support staff had engaged in job action that included one-day strikes as negotiations with the government faltered. However, they reached agreements just as COVID-19 in 2020 led to school closings.
On Thursday, Mr. Ford said his government’s focus was to avoid any disruptions to school, especially after the past two years where students switched between online and in-person learnings during waves of COVID-19.
He said that the government’s offer was “fair,” and what OBSCU has asked for is “not realistic.”
The support staff union asked the province for annual raises of about $3.25 an hour, which amounts to roughly 11.7 per cent annually.
The union has also asked for more student supports, including an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom. Under the current model, if a kindergarten class has fewer than 16 students, there is no requirement to have an early childhood educator in the room.
The government’s offer includes a 2-per-cent increase each year over a four-year contract for those earning less than $40,000 a year, and a 1.25-per-cent wage hike for those earning more than $40,000. That amounts to 33 to 53 cents an hour, the union said.
“We’re going to come up with a final number that hopefully they’re happy, we’re happy. As long as they stay in school and there’s no disruptions, that’s all we’re asking,” Mr. Ford said.
OSBCU president Laura Walton said on Thursday that her union’s proposal was “reasonable, necessary, and affordable.” OSBCU had talks scheduled with the government on Thursday and Friday.
Ms. Walton said support staff are among the lowest paid in the education sector and are often forced to work multiple jobs.
“Doug Ford has the power and resources to accept our proposals today,” she said in a statement. “If he does that, the lowest paid education workers, who are paid on average only $39,000 a year, won’t have to strike to make ends meet and to defend services for students from Ford’s cuts.”