Education Minister Stephen Lecce says there is a “credible pathway” to a deal with the union representing 55,000 school support staff — but urged CUPE to be “reasonable” at the bargaining table as talks continue this weekend to avert a strike. Parents, meanwhile, are struggling to secure care for their kids in case of a walkout Monday if negotiations between the province, school boards and the Canadian Union of Public Employees fail to reach a deal — leading caretakers, educational assistants, early childhood educators and school office staff to hit the picket lines, shuttering hundreds of schools. On Friday, Lecce told the Star the sides “aren’t all horribly far apart on a lot of issues. In fact, on some of the major issues we’ve been able to seek alignment” and said the government “has demonstrated reasonability, flexibility” in talks.There are a “few issues that will be negotiated at the table over the weekend, but I do believe for families and for students themselves that there’s a pathway to resolve this, and it really rests with, I think largely, the union being reasonable,” Lecce said.Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said in an interview she “(finds) the word reasonable interesting.”“I don’t find it reasonable that we have students without (educational assistants’) supports, or find it reasonable that we have full-day kindergarten classes with 30 kids in a classroom or find it reasonable that we have cleanliness standards going down” in schools. “... At the end of the day, being reasonable is something the government and the (school board associations) also have to consider.”Walton said she will be talking to her team to figure out a way for parents to get information about any potential strike as soon as possible — so they don’t have to wait around until early ...
|
