Education workers hold "Rally for Respect" in support of jobs, services, and a fair bargaining process

ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 27, 2015) - Education workers with the District School Board of Niagara are responding to last week's ultimatum from Premier Kathleen Wynne about their work-to-rule action by holding a Rally for Respect in their community.

The rally is a show of support for union representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who are in negotiations tomorrow with the province and the Council of Trustees Association (CTA).

Education workers are determined to protect the supports and services they provide to students in the Niagara school system. "Our collective agreement is the best line of defence against cuts to the programs, services and assistance that students in Niagara schools need to succeed," said Frank Ventresca, President of CUPE Local 4156. "Our rally will show that we are ready to defend those services and that we won't cave in to the province's or the school board's threats to jeopardize them."

"CUPE members are determined to negotiate a fair collective agreement that respect the critical work they do," said Terri Preston, chair of CUPE's Ontario School Board Coordinating Committee. "That's what this rally is about and that's what our work-to-rule job action is about."

"CUPE education workers have been subjected to an appalling lack of respect from this Liberal government," said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario. "Our members have been without a fair collective agreement for well over a year. At this rally, we will call on the government to work to resolve this labour dispute, not to issue ultimatums."

CUPE's 55,000 education workers are represented in schools and board offices across Ontario, in all four school systems. CUPE members work as educational assistants, custodians, office administrators, early childhood educators, trades people, instructors, library technicians, speech pathologists, IT specialists and other positions in Ontario schools.