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Union Members Vote In Favour of Deal

While 73% of education workers voted yes, others are not happy

It's the vote many people across Ontario were hoping to hear from the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

President of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions, Laura Walton, revealed 73% voted yes to the deal with the government.

"The last we held a ratification vote in 2019, around 10,000 members voted, which is about 18% of education workers.  This time, more than 40,000 voted," she says.

However, one educational assistant, Michelle Campbell says while she voted yes, she understands why so many of her colleagues are not happy with the deal and voted no.  "In my decades working as an E.A., I've seen anything as bad as what schools are like right now.  There simply isn't enough staff to do the work to support our students.  School boards are bringing in unqualified and untrained moms to fill in for us when we can't be there, and this is unsafe."

She adds pulling her away from special programming to help with crisis intervention is not safe.

The union says the deal does not address staffing issues but does grant a dollar an hour raise each year, or 3.59%.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Stephen Lecce has released the following statement in response to the news. 

“Since negotiations began, we have been guided by the belief that kids should be in class. We are so pleased we’ve been able to reach an agreement that has been overwhelmingly ratified by the members that keeps kids in classrooms and preserves the learning experience, like clubs and extra curriculars.”

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