November 7, 2022 3:31pm
The MPP for Perth Wellington says he’s glad that CUPE is ending its strike and coming back to the bargaining table with the province to find a deal for education workers.
Matthew Rae says in his riding, the strikes affected roughly 50 per cent of the boards, and he says he heard from many families that wanted kids to be in class
“I’ve heard from many parents over the past week, week and a half, about how our kids need to be in school. After two or two and a half years of pandemic disruptions, students need stability, and that’s been the number one focus since Minister Stephen Lecce (Ontario’s Eduction Minister) began negotiations with all the bargaining units over three months ago,” Rae stated.
When asked what he would say to those that have said the province should provide better compensation and stability to workers who contribute to the classrooms, Rae echoed recent claims from Minister Lecce.
“In that offer, it had the largest increase in compensation for educational workers in over a decade, and it protected their benefits and pension, some of the most generous across Canada, so we offered that to them and pleaded with them please do not continue with the strike, but CUPE chose to continue with the strike,” added Rae.
Rae claims the province did not want to invoke Bill 28, which will be rescinded next week, but was non committal when asked about the use of the notwithstanding clause by Doug Ford to pass the bill in the first place. Rae says Doug Ford “offered an olive branch” to CUPE to rescind the bill, if CUPE ended its strike action. The province will now rescind Bill 28, the Keeping Kids in Class Act, on Monday, November 14. When asked about concerns raised by other unions regarding the use of the notwithstanding clause, Rae turned attention back to the educational workers strike, stating the province’s goal the whole time was keeping kids in classrooms.
“Bill 28 provided us tools to ensure that the strike would not proceed and as I said, it was great to see the Premier offer an olive branch to CUPE, that we’ll rescind Bill 28, which we will do because they have now agreed to come back to the negotiating table. We want a voluntary agreement, since the very beginning, Minister Lecce the entire week last week was pleading with CUPE not to continue with their strike but they were intent on striking,” Rae said. “When it was clear last week that further disruption was on the table with CUPE refusing to withdraw their strike notice, our government acted. We brought forward legislation to protect the rights of children to stay in class and continue learning. I know I’ve spoken to many kids since being elected and visited a number of classrooms and schools, and they really enjoy being back in person.”
The government has come under fire for using the notwithstanding clause, with many unions expressing concern that it could be used against them next. Rae was again non committal when asked about that possibility, stating the province wants to get fair deals done with all unions.
“We want a voluntary agreement with all our unions, that’s the focus. So, we’re continuing to move forward with that and again, it’s great to see CUPE has accepted the Premier’s olive branch to return to the negotiating table to get a voluntary agreement, that’s what we want. Last week, they did not have to accept our voluntary agreement, which we offered, a more generous offer, they didn’t have to accept that, they just had to withdraw the strike notice, but they refused to do that last week, which led to our government taking further action to ensure students remained in school,” Rae concluded.
