TCRCE preparing for potential school support staff strike

Hundreds of school support workers across the Tri-County region are among the more than 5,000 across the province who will be in a legal strike position on Oct. 26.

Negotiations between eight Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals and the province’s regional centres for education and Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) are nearing an impasse, the union said in an Oct. 16 news release.

“We are running out of time to reach agreements that protect the quality of public education in Nova Scotia,” Nelson Scott, chairman of the Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions, said in the release. “For 10 months, we have been telling our employers what it takes to keep our schools running. They know the problems. They know what needs to change. But we’re still waiting for them to take those concerns seriously at the bargaining table.”

This time around, the negotiation process has been complicated by the province, explained Andrew Weaver, president of the CUPE local 964, which represents workers in the Tri-County Regional Centre for Education (TCRCE).

“We have two rounds of bargaining. We have our local issues that are specific, so these little idiosyncrasies around the province that everybody does their own thing with their local centre for education. Then a second round of provincial bargaining, so all of our local issues are not deemed provincial issues,” said Weaver.

“Historically, we have bargained for money items and the big-ticket items with the province and this time around the province is refusing to recognize the school board council as the bargaining agent. We’ve been forced to travel around the province and try and work out some process at each table. Today, I’m in Truro. Monday, I’m in in Sydney, so I’m out of the workplace. My buses are being driven by someone else. It’s stressful for everybody.”

He said the local issues with the TCRCE are dealt with, but the province is refusing to meet with the council representing the eight CUPE locals.

“The process is complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s pretty bad when we have a government that treats its employees this way. If we were working in the private sector most of us would quit. We wouldn’t put up with this kind of treatment from our employer.”

Weaver said the mood among CUPE members in the region is “positive, hopeful, but ready.”

In the Tri-County region, 256 employees could potentially be in a strike position. It includes school custodians, transportation staff, and trades people like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, oil burner technicians, mechanics, and motor vehicle body repairers. Teachers are not part of the labour dispute.

In an Oct. 15 letter to parents, TCRCE regional executive director Jared Purdy said it is developing contingency plans in event of a strike. It includes no centre-provided transportation to and from schools.

“In TCRCE a CUPE strike would result in pre-primary to Grade 6 students continuing to attend school in person. Grade 7 to 12 students requiring learning centre supports continuing to attend school in person. All other students in Grade 7 to 12 shifting to online learning,” said Purdy.

“TCRCE has been working closely with school principals in recent weeks to determine how to best support students in the event of any labour disruption by CUPE members.”

Purdy added school principals will begin reaching out to families in the week leading up to the potential strike date to explain school-specific contingency plans such as the distribution of technology for online learning and traffic plans. In the event of a strike, before and after school programs would continue as usual, he said.

In the CSAP, CUPE represents custodians, CSAP-employed bus drivers (excluding those employed by external contractors), and mechanics, said Stéphanie Comeau, CSAP communications co-ordinator.

“Schools will remain open as long as possible, however busing would be cancelled in Clare, Argyle, Pomquet and South Shore regions. And extra-curricular activities and the use of our schools in the evening or weekends would be suspended,” said Comeau, adding the CSAP is currently working on a contingency plan.

Across the province, more than 5,500 school support workers across Nova Scotia could walk off the job on Oct. 26.

“Parents and kids across Nova Scotia see every day what happens when there are not enough resources to meet standards: classrooms get dirty, students go without the supports they need, the learning environment is disrupted, and some kids don’t even make it to class because their bus run has been cancelled,” said Scott.

“Nobody wants a strike. But we cannot keep accepting working conditions that undermine the very services our students depend on. The problems we are trying to solve at the bargaining table are already affecting families across Nova Scotia.”

Mary-Dan Johnston, of CUPE communications, said the union has been looking for an agreement that protects the quality of public schools across the province.

“Cancelled buses, dirty classrooms, deferred maintenance is piling up. We know there are students who attend that need (educational program assistant) support who have had their support reassessed and support staff laid off, so what we’ve been fighting for at the bargaining table are changes to ensure we don’t keep going in that direction. So far, the employer has not been willing to agree to a new contract that helps us move in the right direction – safe, clean accessible schools – what all Nova Scotia students deserve,” she said.

Johnston said in many parts of South Shore and the Tri-County region, the reason many bus runs are cancelled is “because the job has few hours and the wage is not very high, so not many people are interested in becoming bus drivers or even casual or spare bus drivers because its not really a job you can build a life on.

“Make the job better and there would be more people willing to do it instead (of) shortages. With cleaning services, we know the (regional centres for education) in some areas have made changes to the square feet that a janitor is responsible for. It’s been increased so we’re being asked to do more with less and the cuts are being passed on to students in terms of the impact to the school environment and the classroom conditions.”

Johnston said CUPE is still at the bargaining table.

“We just need the employers to come to the table with an agreement which directly benefits the employees that the union can take back to their members.”