The Windsor Essex Catholic School Board and two CUPE locals representing educational assistants, early childhood educators and support workers ratified a two-year collective agreement Friday.
According to a release from CUPE Local 1358, “the agreement addresses a number of issues of importance to CUPE members, including protecting services through better job security, better sick leave support, and protection of pension contributions.” Jamie Bumbacco, executive superintendent of human resources for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, declined to comment on the agreement until the Ontario ministry of education has also ratified it.
Under the threat of a contract legislated by the province, the English Catholic Teachers Association signed a memorandum of understanding with the province last summer that froze wages, limited sick days to 10 per year and ended the practice of banked sick day cash-ins upon retirement. Public board teachers declined to follow their lead and staged a walkout Friday to protest Bill 115, which limits their collective bargaining rights.
The release from CUPE Local 1358 blasts Bill 115 and the tough conditions it created for negotiators.
“The fight is not over. Our local has concluded this round of bargaining for our members but our concerns around Bill 115′s infringement on our democratic rights remain. Bill 115 created a crisis in our schools and we will continue to campaign until all provincial leaders commit that they will not attack our basic collective bargaining rights in the future,” Local 1358 president Patricia Holland is quoted as saying in the release.
