CUPE education workers vote to ratify contract with government

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says its Ontario education workers have voted to ratify a contract with the government.

About 76 per cent of the union’s 55,000 education worker members voted during the ratification process.

President of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, Laura Walton says about 73 per cent of those who voted were in favour.

Walton had said she didn’t like the deal because it came without staffing level guarantees.

WATCH: CUPE announcement of education workers’ ratification vote results

The ratification ends a whirlwind bargaining process.

Education workers previously walked off the job for two days after the government passed, then later repealed, legislation that imposed a contract on them.

The legislation also banned them from striking, and used the notwithstanding clause to allow the override of certain charter rights.

The two sides later returned to the table and brokered a tentative deal on Nov. 20. The union says the deal comes with a $1-per-hour raise each year, or about 3.59 per cent annually, for the average worker.

After the tentative deal was struck, Education Minister Stephen Lecce thanked education workers and said he was grateful the two sides “came together in the interest of our kids and put them first.”