Families,
For the past several months, Regional Centres for Education across the province and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) have been negotiating with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents a number of school support staff, in an effort to reach renewed collective agreements.
We know that the possibility of any disruption to your child’s learning environment can be stressful, and we want to keep families informed as this process unfolds.
Unfortunately, the conciliator working with the parties has filed a report with the Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration declaring an impasse. This means negotiations are currently at a standstill, and the process that could ultimately lead to job action begins.
Our priority is to reach fair agreements at the bargaining table and avoid any disruption to students and families. At the same time, we have a responsibility to be prepared for the possibility of job action.
Recent CUPE labour action in the long-term care sector demonstrated that we cannot assume services will continue while negotiations remain unresolved. While the circumstances and bargaining processes are different, that experience reinforces the importance of preparing now for the possibility of job action in our schools.
We are developing contingency plans and assessing what different forms of job action could mean for students, families, and school operations.
We will provide families with further information as soon as it becomes available and will provide as much notice as possible should there be any change that affects students or school operations.
In the meantime, here’s what you need to know:
While we remain optimistic, unless a deal can be reached, CUPE has signaled an intent to commence strike action on Monday, October 26. The employee groups that CUPE represents vary throughout the province, meaning the impacts of a strike will be different in each Region and for CSAP.
In HRCE, CUPE members include all term and permanent employees within the following classifications:
Educational Program Assistant (EPA)
Lead Early Childhood Educator
Support Early Childhood Educator
Library Support Specialist
SchoolsPlus Community Outreach Worker
Child and Youth Care Practitioner
Mi’kmaw/Indigenous Student Support Worker
African Nova Scotian Student Support Worker
Assistive Technology Support Worker
Substitutes for abovementioned classifications, where applicable
For clarity, any potential job action does NOT include teachers. CUPE also does not represent EXCEL employees.
The EXCEL program will continue to operate in the event of a CUPE work stoppage.
What happens now?
I recognize that this is unsettling news. I want to assure you that teams at HRCE have been working closely with school Principals in recent weeks to determine how to best support students in the event of any labour disruption.
We are making plans to ensure that students who require the support of EPAs will continue to be able to access educational services reasonably and safely. Principals will begin reaching out to families who will be impacted to discuss these plans.
In the event of a work stoppage, Pre-Primary Programs will be paused.
We remain hopeful that there will soon be a resolution and that these plans won’t be necessary. CUPE has not yet provided the 48-hours' notice as required by the Trade Union Act.
As a reminder, we do not expect any potential strike action by CUPE until Monday, October 26.
We value and respect our employees who are part of CUPE. We know their work is critically important to children, students, families, teachers and staff, and hope to reach a fair deal before any action that affects our classrooms.
I will provide an update on the ongoing talks and contingency planning as new information becomes available.
Steve Gallagher
Regional Executive Director
Halifax Regional Centre for Education
