FORT FRANCES, ON – Local 65 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) reached a ground-breaking agreement yesterday with the Northwest Catholic District School Board (TNCDSB) that will help ensure a successful roll-out of the new Early Learning Program (ELP).
“We are very excited to have concluded this important step to making early learning a reality throughout the region” said Terry Soulliere, president of CUPE 65, who stressed the importance of the agreement to ensuring implementation of early learning proceeds smoothly.
The agreement incorporates the terms of the recently negotiated Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) agreement between the province, school boards and the unions which represent the bulk of Ontario’s school board staff. The PDT agreement has now been incorporated into the current collective agreement between TNCDSB and CUPE, and will be in effect until 2012.
“With school now underway, parents can know that the early learning professionals this agreement covers will be focused on making early learning a success at TNCDSB by providing their children with the best possible education,” said Soulliere.
Among other things, the agreement reached yesterday provides a framework for the orderly placement of Early Childhood Educators (ECE) into the board’s existing collective agreement, as well as establishing the role ECEs will play in the classroom. Since July, CUPE locals across the province have successfully completed more than 25 such agreements.
For more information, contact:
Terry Soulliere
CUPE Local 65 president
Tel: (807) 221-8477
Bev Patchell
CUPE National Representative
Tel: (613) 542-2069
Kevin Wilson
CUPE Communications
Tel: (416) 821-6641