Here’s when parents will find out if school workers have accepted Doug Ford’s offer

CUPE school staff continue to vote this weekend on a tentative, four-year deal reached with the province - and the union now says the result will be released Monday morning.

In a revised scheduled, CUPE's Ontario School Boards' Council of Unions said the vote - which began Nov. 24 - will close on Sunday and president Laura Walton will make an announcement Monday morning at Queen's Park.

The government, school boards and union worked out the tentative contract after the province backtracked and repealed Bill 28, controversial legislation that pre-emptively tried to ban a strike by the 55,000 workers and impose a contract on them using the Charter's notwithstanding" clause.

My co-workers and I stood up to the Ford government to get a forced contract repealed as part of the anti-worker Bill 28," Walton said in a statement. This tentative agreement is our first in 10 years to be freely bargained instead of forced on us with legislative interference."

Walton, an educational assistant, said that for the last week and a half, front-line education workers have been deciding if what's in this tentative agreement is acceptable. This - workers having the freedom to negotiate and to withdraw our labour if necessary - is democracy in action."

If approved, votes will then be held for school board associations to ratify.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that since negotiations began, Ontario's government has been focused on ensuring students stay in class, learning. I am grateful to our education workers for making a difference in our schools and grateful that students are in class learning, benefiting from clubs, sports and extracurriculars."

He said in a statement that students need stability, and it is my sincere hope that everyone will come together to keep children learning in class without disruption right to June."

CUPE represents custodians, educational assistants, early childhood educators and library technicians, among others, in a number of boards across the province.

Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, has said CUPE workers need to know that boards appreciate and understand the work that they do for us - they are fundamental to the care of our schools and our kids. We need our CUPE members, bottom line."

The tentative deal with CUPE was reached Nov. 20, a day before workers were set to go on strike.

It provides a $1 an hour raise each year, with the average worker making 15.2 per cent over four years - and with the lowest paid workers receiving almost 17 per cent during that time.

Last month, CUPE school staff walked off the job for two days in a successful bid to pressure the government to rescind Bill 28.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy