Parent, teachers share impact educational assistants have on students amid contract negotiations

As educational assistants (EAs) represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) continue to negotiate for higher wages with the province, parents who rely on their work are sharing the impact they have on students.

EAs are often described as having some of the most strenuous and difficult work in Ontario’s schools but are among the lowest paid workers in public education.

The group of workers is largely made up of women and they reportedly earn a starting salary of $15/per hour.

Lisa Dosa has seen the physical and mental demands of the job firsthand. Dosa’s 17-year-old son Jonathan is autistic and needs constant care.

She tells CityNews EAs at his school have not only taught him life skills, but they’ve also kept him safe.

“They are the glue that holds everything together,” explained Dosa.

EAs are responsible for helping students with special needs ranging from dyslexia to non-verbal autism. They assist disabled children in the bathroom and help calm students who may be prone to violent outbursts.

One educational assistant writes to CityNews, “Often, unfortunately, we are ones who must run down the street after them, or take the black eye, bite, or bruises.”

“That job they can get hurt, daily,” said Dosa. “You could get bitten, and your hair’s pulled, kicked … could be screaming, that’s another one, screaming, and they are there to help calm them, change the environment.”

“They have to have a lot of patience to keep working with these children, and they truly care about them,” she added. “I don’t understand how EAs can be paid so little and survive, especially in today’s world,” shared Dosa.

Unable to make ends meet, many EAs are forced to take on second or third jobs.

Teacher Derek Rodrigues’ mother has been an educational assistant for nearly 30 years. She was forced to work three jobs to support her family. “My mom worked relentlessly,” said Rodrigues.

“My mom would come home after school, scarf down a really quick dinner, then she’d be off,” he shared. “She never led on how stressful it was and always had on a bold face.”

Rodrigues tells us it is still stressful to this day. “Within the past year she’s experienced being choked by a student … she’s been punched, she’s been kicked, she’s been scratched she’s been yelled at.”

Despite that, his mother has stuck with it for three decades. “She really sees being an EA as her calling in life.”

The highest paid educational assistants can make just under $30/per hour. Many of them have invited the education minister to try their jobs out for a day to get a better sense of the demands.

CUPE and the Ford government is currently engaged in contract negotiations. It comes after the province pulled legislation that would have forced education workers into a new contract who in turn went back to work after a two-day strike.