Forget work-to-rule — school support staff will go straight to strike if necessary, union says - Toronto Star

Union leader representing custodians, educational assistants and office staff says work-to-rule hasn't been effective in the past.

Joe Tigani, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions.

Support staff in Ontario schools will head straight to the picket lines if necessary, bypassing work-to-rule as a first step if negotiations fail, says a new memo to members.

CUPE’s school boards bargaining unit — which recently announced it is holding an online strike vote Nov. 4 to 18 — sent an email out Tuesday evening saying that its leaders decided at a recent meeting to “proceed with a central strike vote ... (and) to conduct an all-out strike on day one, rather than starting with work-to-rule if a strike becomes necessary. Leaders voted in favour of an all-out strike day one.”

This “means if we reach an impasse in bargaining and the government does not take our proposals seriously, 57,000 education workers will have the ability to strike,” the email said.

Teachers unions contacted by the Star say they have not made similar decisions and are keeping all options open when it comes to potential job action.

In an interview, Joe Tigani, president of the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said work-to-rule has not delivered results for his members, who include custodians, educational assistants and office staff.

“We have so many different classifications, it just simply is ineffective,” he said.

Province’s 275,000 educators, support staff will wear red or purple, and at some schools may hold information pickets.