OSBCU Bargaining Updates, Tuesday May 19, 2026
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It was great to see so many of you at the ‘Inside the Fight: OSBCU Information Hour’ webinar on May 14. By taking the time to stay informed and engaged, you are strengthening our collective power as we move into what will be a challenging round of bargaining.
Did you miss the webinar? Join us for the next session on June 15th. We will provide updates on the bargaining priorities and highlight small action you as a member can do to strengthen our fight for change. If you have not already registered, you can sign up here.
Below is a brief summary of the May 14th webinar.
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Currently we have close to 9,000 Education Sector workers who have signed the petition. We are pleased to report that all OSBCU locals, except one, are actively participating in the campaign.
Sector-wide, we are approaching 14,000 signatures. This is a strong start, but we have a long way to go considering there are over 57,000 OSBCU members. We need every member to sign the petition. If members do not speak up, decisions will continue to be made without them.
We cannot stress enough how important this campaign is for protecting our pension plan and securing future benefits. The OMERS Administration Corporation is currently working on the bylaws for the new Sponsors Council, and we must continue putting pressure on them to ensure we receive the representation we need and deserve. We also need to ensure transparency is clearly written into the new bylaws.
Please take a moment to click the link and sign the petition. When it comes to our pension, the message is simple: we pay into OMERS, and we deserve a say in how it is run.
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April 29 – Celebrating Solidarity Across the Province, Across Education Unions
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| April 29 was an incredible success across Ontario; education workers stood together with teachers in a strong act of solidarity. A visible show of action and a shared commitment to defend public education. This is just the beginning, a spark. We will continue to build and organize and strengthen our relationships. A BIG thank you for every local, every member, every activist, and every ally who took part.
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Job Cuts Announcements Across the Province:
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| Across the province, we are seeing a wave of job cuts being announced. These are happening because of two things: ongoing underfunding by the provincial government and decisions being made by school boards to balance budgets directly affecting education workers and students. These job cuts are affecting all classifications and the cuts are often far greater than the enrollment decline. These cuts are completely unacceptable and only a fraction of what is still to come.
To date, we’ve heard of well over 500 job cuts at 8 different boards. This already represents more than 1 percent of the full-time permanent jobs and it could grow to 2-3% as more boards threaten cuts. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has calculated that cumulative cuts in education funding since 2018-2019 now total $6.3 billion. Our job security language expires on August 30, 2026. This creates a serious vulnerability for members and will give boards greater freedom to make job cuts.
In every round of bargaining, we try to improve our job security language. This is a BIG fight and will take massive worker and community power to win. Locals are also fighting back against job cuts at the school board level. Locals are organizing members, holding special membership meetings, issuing media releases, and making sure the public understand what these cuts mean for schools and students. Locals are using the strike pledge for local action and building political pressure. All this organizing work is building towards maximum strike readiness and supporting our bargaining demands. Our bargaining proposals are directly aimed at restoring jobs, increasing staffing and strengthening job security for the future. |
Bargaining Proposals – Job Security
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Currently our job security language expires on August 30, 2026, the day before the collective agreement expires. This will give the boards more freedom to make cuts at the exact moment when workers should be protected. This is not unique to us; this is true across the education workers unions. So what are we proposing to combat this?
- Eliminate the expire date
- We are proposing that boards can no longer cut positions at the end of a collective agreement
- Make it harder for boards to cut jobs during the life of the collective agreement
- This includes ending board’s ability to reduce staffing through attrition
- Boards and locals re-establish a protected compliment
- Protected compliment is the minimum number of full-time permanent jobs a board MUST maintain
This will not be an easy fight, but it is a fight we can win with members and parents on our side. We are working with other education unions in the school board sector to align with these key bargaining demands. |
Bargaining Proposals – Staffing
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Stopping the cuts and protecting the jobs is not enough. We are also fighting for an increase in staffing levels across the school boards. We have several proposals that are about increasing staff: including
- Increased funding for Special Education Staff and the Other Staffing Amount
- DECE in every classroom with a kindergarten student
- A cap of 26 students in kindergarten classrooms
- Every kindergarten classroom should have an EA assigned
There are simply not enough education workers in schools. When staffing levels are low, it affects everyone. |
June 6th – Painting the Province Purple
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The next Province wide day of action is focused on talking with parents, caregivers and community members about what really is happening in schools and building pressure on the Provincial Government to increase funding in public education. To make the improvements our schools need and to win real change we need as many parents, caregivers and community members on our side and working with us on this campaign.
On June 6th we are Painting the Province Purple. We are asking parents, caregivers and community members to sign the OSBCU petition and display a lawn/window sign in support of public education. Locals are organizing community outreach events across the province. We are encouraging you to sign up and join one of those events.
We will be providing four training sessions on community outreach at 11am and 6pm on May 20th and again on June 2nd . Click on this link to sign up for community outreach training: https://osbcu.ca/prepping-to-paint-the-province-purple/
We have already had two locals door knock on doors in their PC ridings with HUGE success with connecting with the public. There are 15 million people in Ontario, many with families and kids in our schools. If we can reach them and connect with them, we can build the power to WIN our bargaining demands. If you can help organize an event, please reach out to your Local Executive.
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IMPORTANT DATES! Member Webinars and Bargaining Notice
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| Remember our next all-member webinar will be on June 15th, if you haven’t done so you can sign up here. Bargaining is approaching, mobilizing is growing, and member engagement matters so please join us and invite other members to attend. The more informed our members are, the stronger we become.
Under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, the earliest date we can legally serve notice to bargain is June 3, and OSBCU-CUPE will be serving notice on that date.
That formally begins the bargaining process, and we will continue keeping members updated as dates are confirmed, and discussions begin.
To update your contact information for bargaining updates click here! |
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