Christmas came early for the Ministry of Education as they’ve achieved another deal with a group of education workers. The rare Sunday news comes from the Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW), a collection of unions representing thousands of education workers in schools around the province, who have now reached a tentative agreement with the Ontario government after a days-long stretch of bargaining. Continue reading “ON Gov Achieves New Deal with Another Group of Education Workers”
Monday dawned with another day of job action by education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), but now it will be the last day too. In a sudden press conference at Queen’s Park this morning, Premier Doug Ford said that his government will move to revoke the highly controversial Bill 28 that imposed a new contract on CUPE using the notwithstanding clause if the school workers promise to return to work. Continue reading “Ford Blinks! CUPE Agrees to End Strike After Gov Promises to Revoke Bill 28”
As the hours counted down on Thursday, it was clear that a job action on Friday by the education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) was inevitable despite the Government of Ontario’s attempt to stop it. Despite a lot of action around Queen’s Park Thursday, CUPE workers look to be hitting the picket lines on Friday no matter what happens in the legislature. Continue reading “CUPE Strike Ready to Go Friday As All Sides Hit Impasse”
A spooky surprise this Halloween for education workers in Ontario, especially the ones getting ready to strike this Friday. In a pre-emptive move before the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ deadline for job action this Friday, the Minister of Education has announced Monday that the Ontario government will be forcing the province’s librarians, educations and custodians back to work before they even have a chance to strike. Continue reading “Ontario Government Pre-empts Education Strike, Labour Pissed”
In terms of breaking news, it wasn’t that surprising when it was announced Wednesday afternoon that Ontario’s school kids are going back to in-person learning on Monday. Instead, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore were pressed for some assurances: Will schools be safe when the children return on Monday, and are school’s prepared if they’re not? Continue reading “Lecce and Moore Acknowledge Uncertainty, But Schools Will Still Open on Monday”
One of the main issues in the recently completed Federal Election was the Liberal government plan to supply the county with $10 per day childcare. During that election, about half the country had still not struck a deal with the the Feds, but as of today, every Canadian province, save one, has achieved affordable childcare. So will Ontario find a way to get to a deal now that everyone else has? Continue reading “Ontario Now Last Province Standing Without a Childcare Deal”
Although it will not be formally announced until Wednesday, Ontario’s opposition parties are already unimpressed with the Government of Ontario’s back to school plan. No Ontario school students have received in-person learning since the end of March due to the third wave of COVID-19, and opposition politicians are concerned that the government is showing a dearth of pre-planning just one month ahead of the new school year. Continue reading “Knives Already Out for Ontario Government’s Back to School Plan”
It was the news everyone was expecting, and dreading, but on Wednesday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced that Ontario’s school children will not be returning to classrooms until September. According to Ford, the growing number of variants and not enough vaccinated teachers and students makes the risks too high even though many in public health have said the opposite. Continue reading “In Anti-Climactic Presser, Ford Announces No In-Person School Till September”
Despite progress on vaccine distribution, the Government of Ontario announced Monday afternoon that schools will not being returning to in-person learning after April Break. Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams made the call even though barely 24 hours ago they were talking about the opposite. Continue reading “No In-Person School Post-April Break, Says Ontario Government”
Ontario school students and their parents will likely remember last year’s March Break as the last time that there was in-person learning until this past September. The pandemic hit our shores on the same week as March Break in 2020, and with school only recently going back to in-person learning here in Ontario, the Minister of Education has decided that March Break will happen, just happen a month later. Continue reading “March Break is Actually Going to be April Break This Year”
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