As contract talks continue, 'woefully underpaid' education workers say they're struggling

Fran Van Gent has been an educational assistant (EA) with the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) for 20 years. Knowing what she knows now, if Van Gent had the opportunity to do it all again, she says she might have done something else.

"I maybe would have taken a different job," she said, citing the changing job requirements, lack of respect for the job and government legislation limiting pay increases.

EAs work with children who are identified as needing support. Van Gent said they used to only work with children who had disabilities and needed help with tasks such as going to the bathroom, getting dressed and being fed.

Now, Van Gent said, they primarily deal with children who have behavioural issues.

Van Gent initially became an EA because she wanted to help struggling children.

"One of the Grade 6 students at my lunch table said, 'If you only make $39,000 a year, why are you still working here?'" Van Gent said.

"I looked right at him and I said, 'You. You're the reason why I'm still working here.'"

EAs 'woefully underpaid,' school board chair says

Gale Simko-Hatfield, chair of the public school board, wrote a letter directly to Education Minister Stephen Lecce saying EAs and early childhood educators (ECEs) are "woefully underpaid." 

The letter, dated Feb. 10, said that even when a new deal is reached between workers and the province, the workers will still be paid less than their colleagues in other school boards and organizations.

"This financial gap has made it difficult to retain these employees over time," the letter reads. "Replacing them with qualified occasional staff is a challenge we struggle to meet daily. Over the last couple of years, we have struggled to hire additional support staff due to low wages and increased incidents of workplace violence."

The board's concerns come as the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), the union that represents EAs and ECEs in the public board, is negotiating a new deal with the provincial government. 

In an interview with CBC News, the union declined to disclose specific demands, but said what they want to see is based on what they call a lack of investment from the current government as well as previous ones.

"What we are starting to see now after a global pandemic are the consequences of that lack of investment," said OSSTF president Martha Hradowy. "The Financial Accountability Officer came out last week and indicated that by the end of 2024-25, this government will have knowingly underspent publicly funded education by $1.1 billion."

The public board in Windsor-Essex is also calling for action from the province to address "significant underfunding" in special education due to high demand in the region.

 It hired the equivalent of 20.5 new EA positions and 26.5 ECE positions last fall.

Another letter from Simko-Hatfield to Lecce, this one dated Dec. 15, 2022, says the board expects to spend an additional $5.4 million on special education this year compared with the previous school year.

"Since the submission of the original budget, the board has seen an increase in the number of students enrolling at the board with complex needs," this letter reads. 

The public board declined to comment further, citing continuing negotiations between the union and the province.

Others in the same boat

According to Tyler Campbell, president of OSSTF District 9, which represents workers in Windsor-Essex, the average pay for EAs and ECEs is in the range of $35,000 to $39,000.

He said educational workers often have to work at least one more job to get by.

Complicating matters was the passage of Bill 124, which was struck down. It capped wage increases at one per cent for public sector workers, including education workers. 

This has caused retention issues for the public board regarding education workers, according to Campbell.

"We're [seeing] anywhere between two to five resignations each week," he said. "People come into the industry now, they do the job for two or three weeks, then they quit."

Campbell said he has heard multiple stories of education workers having to use food banks.

"They shop to survive right now/ Their wage compared to their workload is truly astronomical."

Van Gent has two extra jobs: teaching yoga and providing respite care.

"Sometimes, my 35-hour work week turns into a 70-hour work week, but I don't have a choice as to how I need, financially, to be able to make my payments," she said.

OSSTF not considering job action

Unlike CUPE workers, who walked off the job for two days last fall before agreeing to a deal with the province, Hradowy said OSSTF is not considering similar job action and is committed to staying at the bargaining table.

The Ministry of Education did not directly respond to questions CBC News had regarding wages, retention, employment and deficits at the GECDSB. But in a statement, a ministry spokesperson said they "have funded education at the highest levels in Ontario's history — nearly $35 billion — including the hiring of more than 7,000 education staff since 2018-19."

OSSTF and the province are scheduled to meet on March 27 and are looking at future meeting dates in the next few months.

The same ministry spokesperson told CBC News the deal they signed with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is available to OSSTF and that most CUPE workers are happy with the four per cent wage increase.