Some 55,000 school custodians, office staff, early childhood educators and educational assistants across Ontario will hit the picket lines Monday unless Premier Doug Ford’s government gets “serious” about negotiating.“Make no mistake, CUPE members are ready for full strike action on October 7,” said Laura Walton, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) Ontario School Board Council of Unions. “There may be a full strike in order to achieve what we need,” Walton also said Wednesday at Queen’s Park as the union gave the requisite five days notice of a strike — escalating their job action from the current work to rule, which just began last Monday.She said the union is willing to return to the bargaining table to avoid a strike.If the event of a strike, schools would remain open as long as conditions remain safe.“We understand that this situation will be stressful for students, parents and communities in the short term,” added Darcie McEathron, CUPE’s school board coordinator. “But this government’s cuts have hurt students and our schools across the province and our focus has always been to reverse this damage.”She said “we do not take escalating our work to rule, to full strike, lightly.” However, she added, “we believe a fair deal is within the province’s grasp.”CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn said it would be “ideal” if teachers refused to cross picket lines — but the high school teachers union said that’s not possible. “I ask my members to be respectful and supportive of any CUPE job action, but not reporting for duty could put them in jeopardy of discipline — up to and including dismissal,” said Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which bargained with the province and school boards on Monday and Tuesday and returns to the tabl ...
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