More than 1,800 school support workers in the Halifax area went on strike Wednesday, after members voted on the weekend not to ratify a tentative agreement reached with the province and further talks broke down.
While schools remain open, educational program assistants (EPAs) and other support workers are off the job, and pre-primary programs are paused.
Joining the staff on the picket lines were some parents and students, who are calling on government to deliver salaries they say the workers deserve.
Heather Langley, whose daughter Lucy is in Grade 5 at Burton Ettinger Elementary, was among those supporting the striking workers.
Lucy has special needs and relies on the aid of an EPA in order to attend school.
“She can’t be left alone even for a moment. She needs support with feeding, drinking, toileting, diapering, communication,” explained Langley.
Lucy was born with a rare syndrome which has impacted her physical and intellectual development. She also has autism, is non-verbal and has a severe form of epilepsy.
Langley said the EPAs go above and beyond and even credits them for helping her daughter learn to walk.
Langley has taken leave from her job to take care of Lucy during the strike, but has no education plan in place currently.
“I want to see support staff at schools get paid a living wage. They work difficult jobs and they deserve to be paid and valued for the work that they do,” Langley said.
“The government needs to come back to the table and offer them a wage they deserve and get them back in school and bring our children back in the classroom.”
Salaries for EPAs range from around $33,000 to $37,000, according to the 2020 collective agreement.
Meanwhile, students took the streets outside Sackville High School to also join striking workers. The students describe the staff members as “family” and the heartbeat of the school.
“Therapist, social worker, teacher, they take on all of those roles and they’re not being fairly compensated for that,” said Jenna Gates, a Grade 12 student.
Fellow Grade 12 student Piper Kenny said the current wages have made it difficult for workers.
“My mother, she’s part of CUPE, and we don’t have enough money to pay for a lot of things because they’re not fairly compensated,” she said.
‘Not fair to taxpayers’
On Wednesday, Premier Tim Houston told reporters government worked hard to reach an agreement, but placed the blame on the union.
“The union came to the table with three asks. We met those asks. And then they tabled a fourth ask. That’s not fair to families and certainly not fair to taxpayers,” said Houston.
Meanwhile, the union says wages remain the sticking point.
CUPE Local 5047 President Chris Melanson told Global News on Tuesday that some members are “not able to make ends meet.”
Melanson has said the union wants wages to increase more than what the government proposed, which was 6.5 per cent over a three-year contract.
“(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.
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 on Tuesday that the province offered wage parity.
“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,” said MacMaster.
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 files from Global News’ Skye Bryden-Blom