More than 1,800 school support workers in the Halifax area will be going on strike Wednesday.
The union representing staff, who work at schools within the Halifax Regional Center for Education (HRCE), says negotiations with the province have broken down so they are withdrawing their services as of 12:01 a.m.
Staff include assistive technology support workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi’kmaq and Indigenous student support workers, African Nova Scotian school support workers, SchoolsPlus community outreach workers, educational program assistants, early childhood educators and school library specialists.
CUPE Local 5047 President Chris Melanson said it was not an easy decision to make, as it means the many school services they offer won’t be available.
“That means the pre-primary program in the HRCE will not be available for those children. Educational program assistants will not be working with kids with cognitive and behavioral disorders,” he said.
“Education workers want to be in schools, supporting students and families. We do this work because we love it, not because we want to get rich.”
Members held a ratification vote this past weekend on a tentative agreement, but voted against ratification.
Talks between the two sides and a conciliator were held Tuesday, however the union says talks were unsuccessful. The sticking point, according to Melanson, remains wages.
“(Employees are) making decisions around ‘Do I pay for groceries this week or do I pay for utilities?’ When they’re struggling to make rent payments on top of everything else … sadly, they’re not able to make ends meet,” he said.
Schools opened, no pre-primary program or EPAs
In a letter to families, HRCE regional executive director Steve Gallagher said the work stoppage “will cause some disruption” but that they were focused on minimizing impact.
Schools will remain open, the EXCEL program will continue and student transportation will operate as usual.
But educational program assistants (EPAs) will not be at work and services from some support workers will be paused.
“Principals have reached out to families of students who require the support of EPAs about how they will continue to access educational services reasonably and safely,” wrote Gallagher.
“Please know that principals are supporting families on a case-by-case basis and will provide reasonable opportunities for continued learning from home if a student is not able to attend school safely.”
As well, pre-primary programs will not take place because early childhood educators will not be at work.
Province ‘disappointed’
The tentative agreement was reached on Feb. 19 between the Nova Scotia government and support staff from across the province — 5,400 in total. Each local, representing support staff from different regional centres for education and the francophone school board voted independently.
Only Local 5047, representing HRCE workers, did not ratify the deal.
Allan MacMaster, the minister responsible for labour relations, said in a statement that the province was “deeply disappointed” with the results of the negotiations.
“Through fair collective bargaining, employers delivered on CUPE’s request for wage parity and the tentative agreement would have ensured that someone doing the same job in Yarmouth, Sydney or Halifax would be compensated equally,” MacMaster said.
“While the seven other regions/CSAP ratified this agreement, CUPE Halifax has rejected this agreement and have now asked for changes that would undo wage parity within their own membership across the Province.”
He went on to say that the province believes the offer that was ratified by the other locals was “fair to employees and taxpayers.”
— with a file from Global News’ Skye Bryden-Blom
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