Education Minister Stephen Lecce will be speaking Wednesday morning as contract talks between education support workers and the government continue.
Lecce is set to make a Holocaust education announcement at the Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue in North York at 11 a.m.
CP24.com will stream the announcement live.
The minister is expected to face questions about ongoing contract negotiations with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) after the government said that it would rescind the legislation that made their walkout illegal.
Approximately 55,000 members of CUPE – which include early childhood educators, custodians, education assistants, and administrative staff – went on protest last Friday in response to the passage of Bill 28, also known as the “Keeping Students in Class Act.
The bill, which was passed last Thursday and has not yet been formally repealed, uses the notwithstanding clause to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to force a contract on the employees.
The legislation also made it illegal to strike and imposed hefty fines on individuals and the union for participating in any job action.
The walkout prompted most school boards across the province to transition to remote learning.
On Monday, Premier Doug Ford offered to repeal Bill 28 as a “gesture of good faith” to get students back in class.
CUPE agreed to the government’s proposition and ended its four-day protest with workers returning to class on Tuesday. Contract negotiations then resumed between CUPE and the government.
Ford said Tuesday morning that his government had an “improved offer” for the union and that he would “love to see negotiations finish by the end of the week.”
Later on Tuesday, CUPE tweeted that unconfirmed reports about an offer of 3.5 per cent and two per cent being passed were riddled with “multiple issues.”
They said they had not received that offer from the government
CUPE has been asking for an annual 11.7 per cent salary increase, but last week said their latest offer was about half of what was originally proposed.
Meanwhile, the government proposed an annual wage increase of 2.5 per cent for those making less than $43,000 and 1.5 per cent for all other employees on the table.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq
