CUPE Local 1479

 

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

Apr 11, 2019, 20:27 ET

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TORONTO, April 11, 2019 /CNW/ – Empty promises and meaningless phrases in the Ford government’s budget announcement mask the true harm that will be done to Ontario’s students and system of public education, said the leader of the council that represents 55,000 education workers in the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

The most direct consequence of the provincial budget will be a throttling of public education and the services that support it, as the government sets out to provide below-inflation increases for education this year and a funding freeze next year, said union representatives.

Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, described CUPE education workers’ reaction as “disappointed, angry, but not surprised,” following the union’s analysis of the budget, declaring, “This a false budget, with fake investments in education. It can only have a negative impact on the services that students need in school.”

This government has already shown its hand on plans for education in the province: in March alone, the Ford government slashed some $300 million dollars in funding that helps to support children’s education. When previous cuts, a hiring freeze, and staffing cuts are factored in with news from today’s budget, September is shaping up to be the start of a grim school year for Ontario students.

“School boards across the province are sending out layoff notices to education workers, who are part of the foundation of our education system,” said Walton. “It’s simply more proof that the government’s drive to save money is fuelled by cuts that make victims of vulnerable people, including children with autism, students, women and low-paid workers.”

Ontario schools have suffered from years of underfunding, but cuts by the Ford government are making the situation infinitely worse for students, families and education workers, she added.

“Today’s budget shows the government’s complete lack of understanding of students’ needs and its ignorance of the vital services that education workers deliver in Ontario’s schools,” said Walton.

CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn criticized the Ford government’s approach to education in the budget, as part of his overall assessment of what he called a “budget of betrayal”: “People understand that every job cut in the public sector is really a service loss in the community. Service cuts do nothing to end hallway medicine, improve the quality of education, increase the level of care for seniors or improve social services for the most vulnerable.”

On behalf education workers and 270,000 CUPE members in Ontario, Walton and Hahn promised to fight back against attempts to harm or dismantle the province’s cherished system of high-quality public education.

SOURCE Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

For further information: Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839

Related Links

https://cupe.ca/

 

Hello everyone,

In light of the changes that the Minister of Education has announced this past week all of education and their allies are doing a small solidarity statement by wearing black on Monday to work.  During this attack on education and round of bargaining we are all going to be asked to participate in solidarity acts to show the government that we mean business and we won’t let them destroy public education!  We are going to have to ALL stand up!  Every single member in our local, the executive and stewards can not do this alone.  We need all of Ontario’s 55,000 Education Workers to stand up and fight back.  Lisa Thompson refused to identify CUPE in her recent media appearances, this is a slap in our face.  Please do not think that because we weren’t mentioned that we won’t be affected.  For example, bigger class sizes means less classrooms and square footage to be cleaned.  The autism funding of $12,300 already exists and we are short staffed, with some students not attending full time because they are in IBI, which they won’t be now.  This is just the beginning folks.

Wear black on Monday!  Spread the word!

Please take photos and text them to 613-885-5580 or email to lizjames@cupe1479.com

OSBCU – Joint Statement on Autism from ON Educational Workers’ Unions -20190307

 

 JOINT STATEMENT FROM EDUCATION WORKERS’ UNIONS IN ONTARIO 

Supporting Students with Autism 

As parents, educators, front-line workers, education stakeholders’ and as concerned residents in Ontario, we strongly urge the government to rethink its rash decision-making on the Ontario Autism Program and put the needs of children with autism first. 

The Ford government’s reckless changes to the way it supports children with autism – in particular, its cuts to direct public and not-for profit services in the community – puts desperately needed services at risk. 

These changes are a devastating blow to thousands of families and will undermine the inclusion of children with autism in the public education system. 

We believe no child should be sacrificed because of government cuts, and we believe in universal access to public education for all children regardless of family income, race, gender, sexual orientation, language and ability. 

No two children with autism are the same and this is why the government’s one-size fits all approach of is not a viable solution. Our schools require a systemic approach and public funding to offer a strong network of learning. A government approach that relies heavily upon individual financial resources is not a solution, it is a problem. 

Ontario needs a system-wide solution to support the different needs of students within schools because every child matters. 

Together we call upon the government to take swift action to: 

• • Ensure that the necessary supports and direct, public and not-for-profit services are in place for children with autism in Ontario. 
• • Immediately institute more school-based supports for children, including funded training for educational workers and increased funding for special education teachers, educational assistants, psychologists, behavioural therapists, school support counsellors, child and youth workers and speech-language pathologist 
• • Invest wisely with our public dollars by supporting and protecting our public schools and our public services. 

Standing united, we, the undersigned, offer our support to the children and families in Ontario. We call upon the provincial government to provide the necessary supports for all students with autism and special education needs. 

This is no time for government excuses. Ontario can afford to support the children of this province and 

build a brighter future for them. In fact, we can’t afford to do it any other way. 

Signed 

CUPE, ETFO, OPSEU, OSSTF, OSBCU

5 KEY CAMPAIGN PROMISES

1. Put more money in the taxpayers’ pocket by eliminating the cap-and-trade program, reducing gas prices by 10 cents per litre, and cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families in the third year
2. Clean up the hydro mess by firing the CEO of Hydro One and lowering hydro bills by 12%
3. Create “good jobs” and send the message that Ontario is ‘Open for Business’ by lowering taxes, stabilizing hydro bills, and cutting red tape
4. Restore accountability and trust by ordering a line-by-line audit of government spending to find $6 billion in “efficiencies”
5. Cut hospital wait times by creating 15,000 new long-term care beds over the next 5 years and adding $3.8 billion in new support for mental health, addictions and housing

IDENTIFIED GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES

• Reducing burden on taxpayers
• Restoring accountability and trust in Ontario’s public finances
• Fostering job creation and economic prosperity
• Maintaining and improving hospitals, schools, and other vital public services

IDENTIFIED GOVERNMENT PLANNING GOALS

• Improving existing programs and services
• Closing out programs and services that are not meeting their intended purpose
• Combining programs and services that do or achieve the same thing
• Exploring the best way to deliver programs and services, including the most appropriate delivery channel
• Increasing public and stakeholder input in decision-making
• Making government spending more transparent
• Paying down the provincial debt

 

ACTIONS TO DATE (highlights)

June 2018

• Cancelled all of the programs that were funded by the $2.9 billion in revenues amassed through the cap-and-trade program – including school and social housing repairs as well as rebates for green energy retrofits
• Exited the cap-and-trade programand cancelled 758 green energy contracts
• Restricted access to free prescription drugs for Ontarians 24 and under, who currently do not have access to such benefits (i.e., a step backwards from universal pharma care)
• Eliminated key equity ministries, such as the Ministries Responsible for the Anti-Racism Directorate, for the Poverty Reduction Strategy, for Early Years and Child Care, for the Status of Women as well as the Ministries of Citizenship and Immigration, and of Research, Innovation, and Science
• Instituted a hiring freeze across the broader public sector with the exception of “essential frontline workers”
• Instituted a pay freeze across the broader public sector for executives, management, and employees not covered by collective bargaining

 

July 2018

• Legislated members of CUPE 3903 at York university back to work
• Launched a line-by-line audit of the Liberals’ spending across the broader public sector (i.e., the big kick off to Ford’s promise to find $6 billion in “efficiencies”)
• Reverted to the 1998 sex-ed curriculum until further consultation (i.e., failing to address important topics, such as same-sex relationships, social media, gender identity and expression, as well as consent)
• Halted creating mandatory curriculum for students in elementary and secondary school – on residential schools, Treaties, and Indigenous peoples’ contributions to Canada (i.e., #62 of the Truth and Reconciliation call to actions)
• Withdrew cooperation to help fund the resettlement of asylum seekers
• Forced out the Hydro One CEO and Board, paying the “$6-million-dollar man” at least $9 million upon retirement
• Cut a planned 3 per cent increase to social assistance in half and scrapped the basic income pilot program
• Cut the Liberals’ promised $2.1 billion over four years for new mental health funding with $1.9 billion over 10 years (i.e., $190 million per year instead of $525 million)

 

August 2018

• Announced intent to privatize the sale of cannabis
• Halted opening of new safe injection, overdose prevention sites
• Introduced a ‘snitch line’ on education workers, targeting those using the updated health curriculum
• Dropped the minimum price of a bottle or can of beer by 25 cents (i.e., ‘buck-a-beer’)
• Ended the practice of releasing Ministers’ mandate letters
• Commenced a value for money audit on all government programs and services (results are expected at the end of September 2018)
• Announced the requirement of post-secondary institutions to introduce a free speech policy by 2019

 

September 2018

• Intended to invoke the notwithstanding clause and overrode the Human Rights Code to slash the number of Toronto City Council seats
• Slashed the size of the Toronto City Council by nearly 50 per cent during the municipal election period
• Dismantled the subcommittees under the Anti-Racism Directorate purported to combat Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Indigenous, and anti-Black racism
• Declared a $15B deficit in a guise to cut and privatize public services

 

October 2018

• Allotted the sale of recreational cannabis to private retailers – in lieu of the LCBO
• Scrapped a scheduled three-cent-per-litre increase in the provincial beer tax
• Revoked a regulation that would have standardized training for volunteer firefighters across the province
• Paused the allocation of “parent reaching out grants”, which help fund school councils and student events
• Disbanded the expert panel to end violence against women
• Cut $307.3M from post-secondary education, rescinding funding for three university satellite campuses
• Scrapped worker protections in Bill 148 (e.g., minimum wage; equal pay for equal work; access to workplace information)
• Froze proactive workplace inspections
• Withheld $14.8M in promised funding from existing and new sexual assault centres
• Cancelled cannabis sales through the LCBO

 

November 2018

• Required all provincial agencies, as of 2019, to obtain approval of 1) their bargaining mandates and 2) ratification of collective agreements, potentially expanding this oversight to other areas of the broader public sector
• Passed Bill 57, Restoring Trust, Transparency, and Accountability Act (e.g., delayed the Pay Transparency Act; removed independent officers of the House; cancelled a small increase in taxes for high-income earners; rolled back rent control for existing units)
• Passed a transphobic policy resolution at the PC convention, calling on the government to remove gender identity references from the sexual education curriculum
• Re-announced the creation 6,000 new long-term care beds – more than 80 per cent of which were established under the previous government
• Introduced regressive social assistance reforms (e.g., limiting access for persons with disabilities)
• Lowered the bar to hire Ford-friendly OPP Commissioner, Ron Taverner

 

 

December 2018

• Legislated OPG workers back-to-work
• Cut $25M from school board funding, which funds tutors in classrooms and extra services for Indigenous and racialized students
• Revoked current and future funding for the College of Midwives of Ontario
• Slashed $5M in base funding to the Ontario Arts Council and more than $2 million to the Indigenous Culture Fund
• Appointed a new Ford-friendly Pay Equity Commissioner
• Introduced Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act(e.g., loosened home-based child care regulations; reclassified employers to avoid hiring well-trained unionized workers for public infrastructure projects; removed important health & safety regulations to maintain clean drinking water; repealed Employment Standards Actprovisions to protect vulnerable workers)
• Remained unmoved on eliminating street checks, despite the Independent Street Checks Review

 

January 2019

• [potentially] Dissolved Local Health Integration Networks
• Cut $15M from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which helps fund initiatives like the Coalition for Better Child Care
• Announced removing post-secondary grants for low-income students and reversing recent OSAP changes; reduced post-secondary operating funding through unfunded tuition reductions
• Announced the Student Choice Initiative, which will allow post-secondary students to opt out of union fees outside of “essential campus health and safety initiatives”
• Appointed their principal secretary as a full-time member of the Ontario Energy Board, who will earn $197K
• Compelled Hydro One to Avista Corp USD$103M after failed merger plan (cited Ford’s efforts to force Hydro One CEO to retire as a sign politics)
• [potentially] Removed the cap on class sizes for kindergarten and grades 1 to 3
• “Committed” to full-day kindergarten for this Fall, leaving it uncertain thereafter
• Announced intent to re-examine how and where beer is sold throughout Ontario
• Transitioned health and safety training from in-person to online, affecting 50,000 workplaces

 

February 2019

• [potentially] Dismantled government agencies such as Cancer Care Ontario and the Trillium Gift of Life Network, folding patient care into a “super agency”
• [potentially] Introduced voucher-based approach to children’s autism services (i.e., taking money away from regional agencies)

 

TT/as/ph/Cope343

As many of you have heard I am sure, the Ford government is planning on making some major changes to the Education sector.  They have been clear in stating that there will be a 4% reduction in costs over all in public services, however health care will not see these reductions.  That means that education will actually lose more than 4% since we will have to absorb part of the 4% that would have come from health care.

We already know that some previously allocated funding will not continue, the exact impact on our members is not know at this time.  March 15th the Conservatives will be announcing changes to education so keep your eyes and ears open.  We will be updating people as soon as we have any confirmed information available.  We have heard that school board mergers are on the table, but when and where have not be disclosed at this point.

If you have any questions please reach out to the Executive of CUPE 1479.

 

Life is full of choices. So is your pension.