Hamilton, Niagara boards confirm schools will open Tuesday with CUPE members returning

Both of Hamilton’s public school boards will be open to students and teachers on Tuesday after the union representing disgruntled education workers said it’s members would be back at work across Ontario.

The promise was made after the Ford government said it would rescind controversial legislation impeding workers rights to strike, if they returned to the bargaining table.

The HWCDSB closed facilities on Friday and Monday after a walkout of caretakers and maintenance workers late last week suggesting opening without them proliferated “health, safety and well-being” concerns.

“We’re thankful that the parties will be back at the bargaining table,” Board chair Pat Daly told Global News Monday afternoon.

“It’s our belief that’s where a resolution should be reached. So we’re just really hoping it’s unnecessary to pull back again.”

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The HWDSB also closed schools on Monday citing it “wasn’t feasible” to open with questions around the safety of students and teachers.

Workers including custodians, educational assistants, administrative staff in schools, librarians and bus drivers were the staffers absent from learning facilities as part of the job action.

Monday was an asynchronous learning day for HWDSB staff and students as part of preparations for a possible full-on return to remote learning in the event some facilities could not open.

Director of education Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton they did have a “contingency team” doing maintenance prior to the weekend but said the work became an untenable solution.

“It was a really difficult decision to make because we want the students in school and we wanted to be able to provide that opportunity,” Robinson Petrazzini said.

Classrooms in Niagara will open again Tuesday after the DSBN confirmed in-person learning will be back as did the Niagara Catholic Board confirming in a social media post.

Both the Halton public school boards will also be back to in-person learning on Nov. 8.

Premier Doug Ford held a news conference Monday urging the union to send its workers back to job with the promise to take Bill 28 off the table and re-negotiate a deal.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 55,000 education workers in Ontario, rejected a deal from the province on Oct. 30 and issued a five-day strike notice as part of a legal requirement.

Last Monday, the province tabled Bill 28 that declared the strike illegal and imposed a contract on CUPE workers. That bill was passed late Thursday after talks between the government and union had broken down earlier that day. Still, CUPE members initiated job action and walked picket lines Friday despite legislation that banned them from doing so.

The back-to-work legislation uses the “notwithstanding clause” to guard against constitutional challenges, and Ford said Monday he understands that is controversial.