CUPE education workers have ratified the agreement reached on October 6 with the provincial government.
CUPE education workers ratify agreement that brings back services to students and jobs for worker #osbcucscso #weppe pic.twitter.com/Mu64qzMKJc
— OSBCU-CSCSO (@osbcucscso) November 4, 2019
Of the 55,000 members, only 79 per cent voted in favour of the deal.
"It was not passed unanimously or by all locals. It is important that as we move forward we do not lose sight of the pressing issues that still face our students, our members and our schools," said Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions at a news conference in Toronto.
As part of the agreement, workers will be given a three per cent wage increase over the next three years.
"We have the lowest-paid people in the education system and their wages are not keeping up with inflation," said Walton. "When you have hydro going up 1.8 per cent and wages only going up 1 per cent it really highlights where there may be a problem."
According to the union, the agreement also brings back $80-million of annual funding that the government was looking to cut.
The union says despite the fact that an agreement has been reached, its work is not done.
"We need to stop believing that the only time we can improve our education system is when we are at a bargaining table. We need to move the concerns of the education system, of the workers that are providing those services and the services themselves into a forum where they are discussed on a regular basis," said Walton.
The union is calling on Minister of Education Stephen Lecce to sit down and discuss the ongoing issues facing the education system.