Support staff also signalling a strike
Sabrina Bedford
By Sabrina Bedford
Thursday, August 6, 2015 5:20:55 EDT PM
If school support staff decide to strike, it will have a much bigger impact on area students than a teachers’ strike, the local union representing Ontario members says.
“Education is more than teachers,” said Sue Hanson, president of CUPE Local 5678.
“Education is having your I.T. person in the school. You have your custodians and maintenance staff keeping the buildings safe and clean. You have your educational assistants. You have the office staff who basically run the school. People don’t realize the impact that we have on a child’s education every day.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has now requested the aid of a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour in its central negotiations, joining the ranks of the elementary, secondary, and Catholic school unions in looming strike action in September.
Requesting a conciliator is one step in the process before a legal strike position emerges, however, and the union would need to ask for a “no board report” in order for that to happen before September.
Without administrative staff, Hanson suggested that schools wouldn’t have the capability to run, but without knowing the type of job action CUPE plans to implement, the school board can’t speculate on whether a strike of this nature would close its schools.
“If it’s a strike itself, we have to look at the safety of our students and staff, and that’s the number one priority we have – ensuring the safety of all students. It’s a matter of looking at the nature of their job action and making that decision at the time,” said Jeff McMillan, chair of the Upper Canada District School Board.
“We’re certainly proceeding as if everything is going to be normal, but we have contingency plans in the event there are disruptions in different areas. We’re prepared for what may come, but it’s our intention to proceed with everything as normal as possible at the beginning of the school year.”
Because all levels of labour bargaining in question take place at the provincial level, the Upper Canada board (UCDSB) is not involved in the dialogue.
CUPE school workers include educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians and administrative staff, and the local union represents 1,500 support staff in the UCDSB. They represent educational workers in all four of the province’s school board systems.
The local bargaining process is scheduled for August 13, but the issues of contention are occurring within CUPE’s central talks with the Ministry of Education, and they revolve around monetary issues, according to Hanson.
“The government was wanting everything that has a dollar sign attached to it to be at the central table. You’re looking at everything from wages to vacation to stat time, right down to work boots. They want to have control over all spending by taking it all away from the local level.”
The main issue for the CUPE is that the ministry only set four dates to negotiate “such broad, significant issues,” and they’re trying to establish more meeting dates before September to avoid a strike.
“We’ve met once,” said Hanson. “They’re not really talking to us at this point. The government has been saying in the House there will be no unrest in education in September, that everything would be settled. People are far from settled. We haven’t even started as far as CUPE support staff.
While Hanson wouldn’t directly describe the job action as a sympathy vote, she said educational unions, in general, tend to stick together.
“If you work in education in Ontario, we’re all in the same boat. No one’s being treated any differently. They’re not working with any union or any teacher federation in a positive, going-forward fashion.
“All unions are working together, let’s just say that,” she said.
CUPE workers have been without a contract since September 2014, along with Ontario teachers.