The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says schools across the province are running out of time to reach agreements that would protect the quality of education.
After negotiating for ten months, Mary-Dan Johnston, who is part of CUPE’s communications team, says there are more than 5,500 school support staff gearing up to strike in ten days, and she believes it would affect every school in the province.
“This round of bargaining is about the quality of public education, which school support workers see every day is slipping because of small cuts that are being made constantly behind the scenes,” says Jonhston.
Families first learned about the possible strike on Thursday, Oct. 15, after an email was sent out from school boards that said a report was filed with the labour minister declaring an impasse after negotiations failed.
Johnston says, “School support staff is the umbrella term we apply to basically almost everyone who works in the education system who is not a teacher or a school psychologist or a counselor.”
This includes program and teaching assistants, janitors, bus drivers, librarians, admin staff, and other community members who provide additional support. A strike could mean cancelled bus routes, suspended pre-primary programs, reduced student supports, deteriorating cleanliness, and mounting maintenance problems.
Johnston says some parents have reached out to CUPE, specifically expressing concern about children who have disabilities and how, if a strike happens, it could affect their education.
If workers take job action, “there could be consequences that would potentially keep some of those kids out of the classroom,” Johnston explains.
“Some schools might be forced to close or move to online learning. I’m not sure exactly. This is really a question for the RCE’s because it’s up to them to ensure that those services are provided.”
She says part of the issue is that the Regional Center’s for Education (RCE) “don’t want to commit to the dollar amount it would take to provide the quality of services that students deserve. We feel that we’ve made some significant movement, but we’re still facing a real reluctance on the part of the employer to reach an agreement.”
“They’re really kind of gambling with students’ education.”
In the email to families, school boards say they “value and respect” CUPE employees and want to avoid any disruption for students.
“We know their work is critically important to children, students, families, teachers and staff and hope to reach a fair deal before any action that affects our classrooms,” reads the emails.
CUPE’s bargaining team is hoping a deal can be reached before Oct. 26.
