The union representing about 55,000 Ontario education workers has given five days’ notice of a potential province\u002Dwide strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents staff including educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators, says a strike could start as soon as Friday.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Ottawa SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails.
CUPE is looking for annual salary increases of 11.7% and the government in response has offered raises of 2% a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25% for all others.Article content “No one wants to strike, least of all the lowest-paid education workers who can barely pay our bills,” Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, said in a statement Sunday. “Still, we need a significant wage increase, and we deserve it.”Article content