Union calling for more Funding
CUPE education workers locally and across the province are calling on the province to increase school board funding immediately and add staff.
A survey of 12,000 members, including 300 from North Bay area school boards, finds underfunding and understaffing has caused widespread violence, burnout and a lack of supports for students.
Educational Assistants, Early Childhood Educators, Child and Youth workers, custodians, and others were polled by CUPE and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions.
Along with insufficient supports for students and staff in schools, the union says school offices are overburdened by increasing demands, school cleaning suffers, and repairs are delayed or go undone.
CUPE says this year alone, cuts to real per-pupil funding amounts to at least $11 million at the Near North District School Board, over $3 million at the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board, over $2 million at Conseil Scolaire Catholique Franco Nord, and $2 million at Conseil Scolaire Public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario.
The union says many education workers at the local boards say they frequently face violent incidents at their workplace, with over 30 percent of Educational Assistants and Child and Youth Workers experiencing a violent incident every day.
Officials add not only are students and workers being put at risk, it also means students have their learning environments disrupted on a regular basis.