CUPE local 256 is set to strike and take to the picket lines in Guelph and Fergus on Friday.
On Oct. 30, CUPE gave a five-day notice to strike.
CUPE members will head to the picket lines in Fergus outside MPP Ted Arnott’s office, 181 St Andrew St. E. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In Guelph, members and their supporters will picket outside MPP Mike Schreiner’s office at 173 Woolwich St., also from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We have a good working relationship with both boards. Our fight’s not with them, it's with the government,” said Bill Foster, president of CUPE Local 256.
The CUPE members, who are caretakers, maintenance workers and ESL instructors, want a fair, decent wage to be able to afford necessities, said Foster.
On Oct. 31 Ontario Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, announced new legislation called the Bill 28, Keeping Students in Class Act.
If the legislation passes it would ensure students would stay learning in classrooms. It would block CUPE workers from walking off their jobs to strike.
“He's … trying to take all the bargaining power away from us,” said Foster about Lecce’s proposed legislation.
Lecce should have made us essential workers, but this way he is making us essential workers without the equivalent wages, said Foster.
The strike has to be done so the government doesn’t force the legislation onto CUPE members, he said.
CUPE members may be the first workforce to have this legislation put on them, but who knows what the future will hold, perhaps nurses, paramedics and firefighters could face the legislation too, said Foster.
Both school boards could close after Friday if it isn’t reasonable to remain open due to health and safety concerns, as previously reported by GuelphToday.
“Our last thing is, we don't want … school shut down. We don't want to see kids out. I don't have a crystal ball. And I can't tell you what's going to happen in the next few days or week because we're … still unsure,” said Foster.
There are mixed feelings from CUPE members about the strike because of the uncertainty around it, said Foster.
They haven’t had a wage increase in years, some workers are young and haven’t witnessed a strike before, he said.
Foster works in general maintenance in one of the school boards, he started in 2007. The hourly wage in 2007 for a caretaker at the school boards was $19.62, and in 2022 it is $21.68 or $21.70, said Foster.
The average wage for a CUPE worker in 2022 is $26.69, according to a press release from the Ontario government, though no information is included about what area or industries are included in that calculation.
