By Sofia Gouveia
Over the past month, CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) workers have gone on strike to fight for higher pay. The strike started on November 7 because CUPE workers were in negotiation with the province of Ontario but felt their voices weren’t being heard. Trying to be as least disruptive as possible, students and staff were only out of school for a couple of days before it was announced that a tentative agreement was made. You might be asking, why is this strike important to know about and who are CUPE workers? The people who make our school what it is, who are essentially some of the most important people in our school, are getting highly underpaid and left with an average yearly salary of $39,000. That’s almost impossible to live off of in this day in age. CUPE workers consist of librarians, custodians, educational assistants, and secretaries. Our school simply couldn’t run without them.
Though this can be seen as a disruption to students and teachers, I personally think the strike was the right move. It’s concerning that CUPE workers have to go to such lengths to get the attention they deserve from the government. Getting paid $39,000 is not even close to what is needed to live in the city and be financially comfortable. Especially with rents and general grocery prices rising, the wages should be able to meet those prices. 55,000 CUPE workers are education workers that are in our schools today.