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5 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,S eptem ber 8,2022 w aterloochronicle.ca at the elementary and sec- ondary levels, had con- tracts expire Aug. 31. While teachers will be back in classrooms this week and no strike action is imminent at this point, Pelich says it will depend on attitudes at the provin- cial bargaining table as to how fast it could escalate. Talks to set a frame- work for negotiations with the ETFO, the province's largest teachers' union, are only just beginning. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has filed for conciliation and scheduled a strike vote for the end of this month. With a new public awareness campaign dubbed '$39,000 isn't enough', CUPE is seeking a $3.25 an hour increase (roughly 11.7 per cent over three years) for its 55,000 school board workers, in- cluding caretakers, educa- tional assistants and early childhood educators, who currently earn $39,000, on average. Ontario Education Min- ister Stephen Lecce has of- fered a two per cent in- crease for those currently earning under $40,000 and a 1.25 per cent increase for those making more, saying the offer is "fair and rea- sonable and affordable for the taxpayer." However, Laura Walton, an educational assistant and president of CUPE's Ontario School Boards Council of Unions, said ac- cepting the deal would only exacerbate the issue of staff turnover due to low pay. "That's why we're call- ing on Stephen Lecce and (Premier) Doug Ford to re- scind their insulting offer, pay workers a decent wage, and invest in more staff to provide the services stu- dents rely on," Walton said in a press release. Apart from many im- provements to education supports that the ETFO will be advocating for, its members will be seeking salary increases that match or exceed the rate of inflation, which currently sits at 7.6 per cent. "There's nothing wrong in saying that our salaries should match or exceed the level of inflation," said Pel- ich. While acknowledging that the public union is supported by taxpayers, Pelich said government de- cisions to scrap license plate stickers and give tax breaks to the province's wealthiest earners is in- sulting to teachers. "For us, it's about hav- ing real discussions about what we value and what we feel is important," he said. Many long-standing is- sues, including the need for smaller class sizes and increased supports for vul- nerable students, remain the same, Pelich says. "We're not necessarily just talking about more for teachers," he said. "We're also talking about more in- tensive supports for stu- dents through psycholo- gists, educational assis- tants, speech and language pathologists and parapro- fessionals -- staff that can work with students who are struggling the most to help them along. "Too often, we're seeing those students are put into a classroom and expected to cope when they don't have the skills or the abil- ities to do so, and that's where and that's why we're seeing increases in vio- lence because it's usually a symptom of something else. It's a child trying to tell us something that they're not getting what they need, and unfortu- nately, it's impossible when you have 30 other students in front of you to give every student what they need." Whether the same story of staff shortages and fail- to-fills plays out in schools this fall is anyone's guess, said Pelich. He added the province's lifting of the five-day COVID isolation requirement makes little sense from a health and safety perspective. "It places staff and stu- dents at undue risk by pressuring them to return to school before they are no longer contagious." Masking is currently a personal choice for stu- dents and staff in public schools, but Pelich said the ETFO has always advocat- ed for the highest standard of protection. "We believe that there should be mandatory masking and there should be definitely some more health and safety precau- tions put into place," he said. "The province wasn't prepared for what we've gone through over the last few years and it continues to be ill-prepared." As for the impacts of a data breach that occurred at the Waterloo Region Dis- trict School Board earlier this summer, the ramifica- tions are still unknown. The board's external communication platforms like its website and social media accounts are cur- rently running, but Pelich anticipates there may be some hiccups as the school year gets underway. "The board has been very cautious in what they share with everybody, in- cluding with the employee groups," he said. "I think everyone wishes there was more information; that there was more under- standing of exactly what's going on." - with files from the Toronto Star STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With a new school year starting, teacher con- tracts expiring and CO- VID-19 isolation require- ments changing, the Chronicle checked in with ETFO president Jeff Pel- ich. NEWS Continued from page 3 'WE BELIEVE THAT THERE SHOULD BE MANDATORY MASKING' Students will return to school this year without masking or five-day isolation requirements in place. Metroland file photo