There was an outpouring of support for striking school workers as they took to the picket lines for the second day in the Halifax area.
Students at Sackville High School staged a walkout to show their solidarity with the staff members who are not in class. Just after 10 a.m. on Thursday, the teens flooded out of the building and joined the picket line along Glendale Drive in Lower Sackville.
Although schools remain open, Educational Program Assistants (EPAs) and other support workers are off the job. Pre-primary programs are on pause.
More than 1,800 members are on strike after negotiations broke down between their union and the province earlier. CUPE Local 5047 President Chris Melanson said the main sticking point was wages.
Shannon Keefe, an EPA, has worked in the field for over 25 years and says it was incredible to see the students join them.
“I think I can speak for everyone here when we saw those students coming up the hill. It felt good and it really shows how we support all kids in school,” Keefe says.
Two of the organizers staged the walkout because they have family members who work these jobs.
They’re worried staff don’t make enough given their important roles.
“It’s a community and it’s honestly a family,” says Grade 11 student Tre Conrad. “Sackville High is built on family and we all stick together. Sackville High is like that.”
“It’s just not fair,” says Grade 12 student Madison Watt. “It’s not fair the learning centre kids don’t get to go to school because of the strike because they don’t get paid enough to do what they do.”
Shyla Croft’s young daughter is non-verbal and has complex needs. She relies on extra support to attend her Grade 1 class. Croft says EPAs help her daughter communicate and with her meals because she requires a feeding tube.
“She’s actually walking the picket line with everyone else and her EPAs,” says Croft. “She’s here and not in school with her peers.”
Another parent, who was not on the picket line, says her young son is also staying home from school.
Renee Horton is worried about him missing out on his Grade 2 education. He has autism and other diagnoses, so he’s not able to attend class without an EPA’s support.
“I made the decision not to tell him that there is a strike and he can’t go to school because he has expressed he wants to be like everyone else,” says Horton. “He does not want to be different.”
Horton says the situation shows more work needs to be done within the school system around inclusion.
“Hopefully, parents like me will be able to speak up and have the courage to speak up to advocate for our children,” she says. “They need to do better, and it starts with paying our support staff a fair wage.”
Another student is worried he’s missing out on many opportunities now that the school does not have an Indigenous support worker.
“It connects us to our traditional teachings,” says Zachery Kippenhuck. “If he’s not there he can’t connect us with our heritage and our background.”
Those on the picket lines are hoping to see a resolution with better pay.
“We deserve more,” says pre-primary teacher Samantha Simms. “As a pre-primary teacher sometimes we’re overlooked, but we are literally raising this generation.”
“People who maybe aren’t aware might just think we’re out here because we’re greedy,” says Keefe. “We aren’t. We’re here because to get good workers in those schools, we need to be paid fairly.”
In a statement, a communications officer with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education says students were neither encouraged nor dissuaded from taking part in the walkout. Lindsey Bunin confirms no hold and secure was placed and no disciplinary actions were taken.
“The school ensured that there was an accurate account for attendance so that parents may address any missed classes,” says Bunin.