Central Bargaining Update: Bulletin #2

On Tuesday July 7, your Central Bargaining Team met for the second time with the Council of Employers’ Associations (CEA) – the organization representing all school boards across Ontario – and the Crown, representing the government including the Ministry of Education.

DAY 1: RECAP

At our first day of central negotiations on June 23, the parties agreed to the ground rules for this round of bargaining.

We continue to work closely with our fellow education unions across Ontario – sharing updates and information relevant to bargaining. We are united!

DAY 2: SCOPE

We met to discuss and exchange proposals about the scope of central bargaining.

The scope determines what will be negotiated at the central table and what issues will be negotiated by locals within their school boards. The parties must agree to the scope before we move on to the next step of bargaining.

Your Central Bargaining Team came to the table ready to reach an agreement on scope so that we can start bargaining on the substantive issues that matter to members, students, and parents.

Some of these issues include: staffing, wage increases, health and safety, sick leave, benefits, job security, and all the other priorities identified by our members.

These priorities were identified through the demand set survey and the demand set conference held with local presidents and your bargaining team.

We have yet to come to an agreement with the employer on issues we believe are best negotiated at the local bargaining table, such as scheduling, contracting out, union leave, layoff provisions, as well as transfer and recall language.

WHAT’S NEXT

We will return to the bargaining table on July 29 and 30 to continue to work towards an agreement on the scope of central bargaining.

Once we have an agreement on the scope, we will provide an update to all local leaders and our members, including actions that you can take to support our fight for a fair agreement that protects publicly-funded education in Ontario.

For those who are especially keen to get to work engaging our members, we are currently inviting applications for mobilizers. Please see here for details.

Stronger Together,

Your Sector 3 Education Central Bargaining Team

Kelly Martin (L330) – Chair

Bonnie Eddy (L330) – Alt. Chair

Rebecca Bailey (L614)

Melody Hurtubise (L2100)

Susan Richarz (L514)

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OPSEU Boards of Education and Cultural Institutions – Sector 3