“The government’s position has changed little since last week,” the Ontario Council of School Board Unions (OSBCU) said in a statement released Monday night.
At the ombudsman’s request, the union said it was holding off on providing more information until Tuesday.
“I wish I could stand here today and say all the bills are settled, the contracts are ready, we’re leaving.  This would be a perfect storm.  We’re a long way off, but we’re committed,” Laura Walton, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) OSBCU, said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
“I wish I could stand here today and say all the bills are settled, the contracts are ready, we’re leaving.  This would be a perfect storm.  We have a long way to go, but we are committed,” Laura Walton, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario Council of School Board Unions, said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Her remarks about the ongoing negotiations come as the Ford administration repeals a law that forced a contract on education workers and barred them from striking.
In just 20 minutes, the legislature voted unanimously to repeal Bill 28 and ruled that it “for all intents and purposes never came into force.”
The Prime Minister offered to withdraw the legislation a week ago if CUPE members agreed to return to work, which they did.
Walton said talks at the negotiating table had been “slow” because the union had doubts the government would follow through on its pledge to repeal the legislation.
“I don’t think there was a lot of confidence on our part that this day would actually happen.  “Now that we know that day has happened, this team is ready to come back and we’re ready to focus,” he said.
The government’s latest offer to education workers included an annual pay rise of 2.5 per cent for those making less than $43,000 and 1.5 per cent for the rest of the workforce.
Since then, Ford has said a new, undisclosed “enhanced” offer is in the works, one that would “particularly” benefit lower-income workers.
Unconfirmed reports surfaced Tuesday suggesting a new offer of 3.5 percent and 2 percent, but Walton said at the time that the union would not accept a two-tier offer.
On Monday, promote this message.  “They would have you believe that by separating the workers and the haves and the have-nots, that some kind of peace will be achieved in the labor movement,” Walton said.
“What will actually work is a flat rate increase, because a flat rate increase will allow lower income earners to actually move up faster than higher income earners, and it actually addresses inequality and inequality with manner that is not intended to divide and conquer.”