Peel education workers vote 98% in favour of strike mandate
Education workers with the Peel District School Board, including educational assistants, early childhood educators and child and youth care practitioners, have voted in favour of strike action as negotiations continue between the school board and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 2100.
About 3,200 of the 4,000 employees in Local 2100 participated in the vote, with 98 per cent of them voting in favour of strike action, according to a news release issued Friday.
"[Staff] are sick of the disrespect our employer is showing not only at the bargaining table but in our workplaces every day," said Melody Hurtubise, Local 2100 president and bargaining team chair, in a news release. "We are dangerously understaffed, under-resourced, and the employer refuses to address the violence in our schools, or even update our job descriptions."
The union says there are several outstanding issues in negotiations with the school board after seven months of bargaining, including staff-to-student ratios, better workloads, more workplace resources, health and safety measures, reasonable supervision times, working from home where possible and updates to job descriptions.
In its news release, the union did not say when the two sides are expected to meet next. The school board did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the strike vote.
