Guelph‘s public school board says their doors will remain open even if some of Ontario’s education workers begin a full strike next week.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 custodians, clerical workers and early childhood educators, gave notice that their members will hit the picket lines, beginning Monday.
READ MORE: Ontario education workers announce full strike action to begin Monday
There are 43 schools out of 76 with CUPE custodial employees in the Upper Grand District School Board. Their ESL instructors in their Adult ESL Continuing Education program are also represented by CUPE.
“There will be an impact on Upper Grand schools and board sites, including possible picket lines affecting vehicular traffic, and possible bus delays (including field trips),” board spokesperson Heather Loney said in an email on Wednesday.
She said all community use events will be cancelled at CUPE sites as of Monday, but commencement ceremonies at various secondary schools will proceed as scheduled.
“School administrators will monitor their schools for any health and safety concerns,” Loney said.
Wellington Catholic District School Board said they remain hopeful a settlement might be reached, but are also preparing for the possibility of a strike.
READ MORE: Waterloo Catholic schools to close Monday if CUPE members goes on strike
CUPE represents custodians at Catholic schools in Guelph, Rockwood and Erin along with maintenance staff throughout the board.
“At this time, our schools remain open,” the board said in a post on their website.
It’s unclear if that will be the case on Monday but the board said they will monitor the situation through the coming days and will provide parents and guardians with updated information through their website and social media channels.
“As always, the safety of our students and staff will be given priority and the withdrawal of services by CUPE will be considered through this lens,” they said.
Word of a strike comes after tens of thousands of education workers in the province began a work-to-rule campaign last Monday as contract talks continued.
READ MORE: Ontario education worker strike introduces ‘wild card’ to federal campaign, experts say
Custodians have stopped cleaning hallways and emptying garbage cans outside schools, clerical workers have stopped finding replacements for absent staff, and education workers have stopped working overtime.
The union says job security is a key issue of contention, after school boards had begun to close programs, lay off workers and were paying parents to do the work of CUPE workers.
Talks between the union and the province are expected to resume on Friday.
–With files from Global’s Jessica Patton
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