Toronto, ONT. – School board support workers from across Ontario are in Toronto on Monday, October 23, 2006 for an emergency meeting to debate and adopt a strategy of escalating actions focused on increasing political pressure on the McGuinty government to fix the education funding formula.
Organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 45,000 school board workers province-wide, the emergency meeting brings together CUPE school board leadership.
A research report showing that the vast majority of Ontario’s 72 school boards are in dire financial straits will be released at a media conference held in conjunction with the meeting.
WHO: Sid Ryan, President, CUPE Ontario
Chris Glover, Campaign for Public Education
Hugh MacKenzie, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
Frank Ventresca, Chair, CUPE Ontario School Board Coordinating Committee(OSBCC)
John Weatherup, CUPE 4400 Front line workers
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board
WHAT: Media Conference – Release of a research report on the depth of province- wide program and job cuts
WHERE: Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard Street West, Toronto outside the Mountbatten Ballroom – 2nd floor
WHEN: Monday, October 23, 2006 – 10:45 a.m.
Education support workers help students succeed in a multitude of ways. Yet Ontario’s education funding formula disproportionately promotes job cuts among custodial, secretarial, trades, teaching assistants, and tech and library workers. In the GTA alone, school board budget cuts threaten program and job cuts affecting as many as 2,000 school board workers.
Although the McGuinty Liberals made an election promise to fix the funding formula, in three years in government, they have not done so.
Approaching the October 2007 provincial election, the McGuinty Liberals will receive a very strong message from CUPE members in the school board sector, “that we will fight to protect quality education and our jobs. The Liberals will pay the price at the polls unless they follow through and fix education funding,” said Sid Ryan, the Ontario president of CUPE.
For more information please contact:
Sid Ryan
President, CUPE Ontario
(416) 209-0066
Frank Ventresca
Chair, OSBCC
(905) 932-6884
Stella Yeadon
CUPE Communications
(416) 578-8774