Quinte Catholic schools could close if education workers strike Monday

Jo-Anne White took on the role of president of the local CUPE 1022 after her predecessor and Belleville resident, Laura Walton, took her position as president of the OSBCU, which is now leading negotiations on behalf of CUPE. Photo by Max Reid, QNet News

By Max Reid

BELLEVILLE – Catholic schools in the Quinte region say there’s a possibility they will close in the event of a strike Monday by educational workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE announced Wednesday they are prepared to stage a full strike if a deal is not met with the provincial government this weekend following their job action decision made at the beginning of the week.

 The Algonquin-Lakeshore Catholic District School Board said on its website that, “such a decision is complex but we will always put the safety of our students and staff at the forefront of our priorities and decision making.” CUPE’s 55,000 education workers – which include custodians, early childhood educators and educational assistants – began work-to-rule job action this week. CUPE is hoping the government will address workers’ concerns over compensation and job security following an increase in class sizes and the cutting of many courses that were previously available to students.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce said in a statement to the media on Wednesday that “it is my expectation that kids will remain in class on Monday”, though he said he was “as confused as anyone” when CUPE representatives backed away from the table on Sunday despite having been close to a deal, according to Lecce.

Jo-Anne White, president of the local CUPE 1022 that represents about 700 public workers in the Belleville area, questions the claim made by the government that CUPE stepped away from the table abruptly. She says that “they were, on some issues, getting a little closer. As long as you only saw their side of things.”

“There was no true negotiation, as in, everything was concession bargaining on our side,” says White, who was critical of the bargaining practices employed by the government.

She says that the laying off of employees carrying out their work-to-rule order in some boards is largely behind the motivation to accelerate the job action to a strike so quickly.

“Instead of working with our work-to-rule it felt like they were aligning themselves for battle,” says White. The agreement that CUPE previously had with the government expired in August, and according to White, it had been the plan since then that “if boards decided to turn against their employees we would escalate it quickly.”

White recognizes the concerns parents are having about the reduced services students will receive at school as a result of the work-to-rule decision, but wants to reassure parents that the most vulnerable of students will still receive care.

Students with special needs or IEPs, for example, “are still being taken care of by their EAs just as they normally would,” says White, the only change being that “EAs have withdrawn the service of general supervision.”

Supervision is another key concern from parents given the rumours that have quickly spread since the job action was declared on Monday, some claiming that kids as young as 10 were being left to supervise younger students.

White responded to that rumour, saying that “each individual board is responsible for the supervision of their students” and not CUPE workers.