Join the CUPE 3903 Contingent to Support Education Workers!

To support OSBCU members in their fight for a fair contract and to resist the anti-democratic suppression of strike action by the Ford government, CUPE 3903 members will be participating at the rally at Queen’s Park on Friday, November 4th. If you’re interested in joining, a contingent of members will be leaving York University for the rally at 12:30pm after meeting near the entrance of Vari Hall on the first floor. You can also meet us at 1pm at Queen’s Park. We’ll be meeting at the King Edward VII Equestrian Statue.

If you don’t live in Toronto, you can use OSBCU’s picket line finder by punching in your postal code at www.cupe.on.ca/dontbeabully.

If you plan to attend a picket line, please consider printing out a sign to bring with you. Click here for the link to CUPE 3903’s solidarity sign. 

If you take any pictures of yourself on a picket line with a sign, please consider sharing it on social media and tag us in your post (@cupe3903comms).

CUPE 3903 stands in solidarity with CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), whose 55,000 members include educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians and other staff. They are fighting for a collective agreement that would provide a fair wage for workers, especially for underpaid educational workers, 70% of whom are women, 60% of whom are laid off every year, and many of whom earn just $39,000 a year. Workers are also fighting for a collective agreement that will produce safer and healthier learning environments for students by requiring the government to hire more educational workers to meet student needs, keeping all school libraries open, guaranteeing healthier cleaning standards, and tackling maintenance backlogs.

To back these demands, OSBCU members voted 96.5% in favour of strike action.

CUPE education workers have been bargaining for over 120 days with very little engagement from the government. Instead of bargaining in good faith, Ford’s provincial government has invoked the “Notwithstanding Clause” to override workers’ Charter-protected right to strike so that they can impose an unfair four-year collective agreement on OSBCU workers. This contract would enforce a 1.5% wage increase on many workers, despite these workers’ wages having been suppressed for a decade and even as inflation rises above 11%.

By trampling over workers’ constitutional rights to collectively bargain, Ford’s government is revealing its willingness to engage in undemocratic tactics to try and silence and subdue the demands of workers who made countless sacrifices during the pandemic to keep schools open and students safe.

This legislation is not just an assault on the rights of OSBCU members, but on every single worker in the province whose ability to bargain freely is now at risk.

 

In solidarity,

The CUPE 3903 Executive Committee