OSBCU responds to government’s extension of virtual learning in Ontario schools

Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) released the following statement in response to the Ontario government extending virtual learning: “The last-minute announcement to extend virtual learning betrays lack of planning by the government, which has yet to formulate a safe back-to-school plan despite being nearly a year into the…

YCDSB aggravating fallout from COVID by closing school libraries and laying off workers

MARKHAM, ON – Education workers throughout Ontario are condemning the decision by York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) and its trustees to shutter its school libraries and lay off all its library technicians, slamming the move as a short-sighted one that will hurt students’ ability to recover from the learning losses incurred during the months…

Cheap won’t keep Ontario students and staff safe from COVID in reopened schools: CUPE – Education workers demand more funding for post-COVID schools –

Read the CUPE and safe school reopening bulletin here TORONTO – Ontario schools need vastly more investment for staffing and supplies to make them safe for students’ return in September, as well as shield them against the effects of a second wave of COVID-19, says the union that represents 55,000 education workers in the province.…

Paying it forward: CUPE education workers step up to support public and colleagues hard hit by COVID-19

TORONTO, ON – Education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Ontario are gearing up to help friends and neighbours whose lives and workplaces have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. CUPE school board leaders have strongly endorsed the provincial government’s “community involvement” initiative, paving the way for the union’s education…

Province’s youngest, vulnerable and low-paid left out of government plans to stop COVID-19: CUPE

Government says leaving childcare open in schools is “up to school boards” TORONTO – The Ford government’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 could make life more dangerous in Ontario if the government won’t also protect the children, families and workers in and around the childcare centres that operate out of publicly funded schools,…