Union, Ontario government to resume bargaining to head off school strike
The Canadian Union of Public Employees has said its 55,000 members plan to walk off the job on Monday after holding a work-to-rule campaign this past week
TORONTO – The Ontario government and a union that represents thousands of education workers say they are to resume talks today to head off a looming strike at the province’s schools.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees has said its 55,000 members plan to walk off the job on Monday after holding a work-to-rule campaign this past week.
Several Ontario school boards, including the three largest, have said they will have to close schools if the labour disruption goes ahead.
They say the closures are necessary to ensure student safety, which they say would be compromised without CUPE workers on site.
Contracts for all of the province’s public school employees expired at the end of August, and the Progressive Conservative government has been in tense labour negotiations with several unions.
Both CUPE and the government say they are to be back at the bargaining table this afternoon and expect talks to carry on through the weekend.
