Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, along with other Ontario school boards, has received notice that unionized support staff will be participating in job action starting September 30, 2019.
Specifically, we understand that this job action will be in the form of a selected work-to-rule approach whereby specific duties will be withdrawn and not performed by CUPE employees during the work day.
"Students come first at HPEDSB and we have high expectations of all employees. We respect the bargaining unit's right to participate in job action and, at the same time, we are absolutely committed to student safety, and supporting continued student learning and achievement. We will continue to do our best at communicating actions and resulting implications for our schools, families, staff, and of course our students, as timely and responsibly as possible," said Shannon Binder, Chair of the Board.
School board administration officials, school administrators and managers are aware of the job action and will be monitoring situations at all sites for student safety.
Employees affected by this job action work in the following roles at HPEDSB:
- Central and back office clerical
- School-based clerical
- Communicative disorders assistants
- Custodians
- Educational assistants
- Early childhood educators
- Information technology workers
- Library technicians
- Maintenance and trades
- Student supervision monitors
Background
- Labour negotiations for the education sector are happening across Ontario. The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act (SBCBA) creates a two-tier bargaining process for the education sector.
- Contracts for all unionized employees expired on August 31, 2019 and are currently being bargained, as outlined in legislation between the province, unions, and the Ontario Public School Boards' Association (OPSBA), which represents public school boards at the provincial table.
- Bargaining and conversations between the province and unions representing school support staff and teachers have been underway since the new school year.
- At the provincial level, the government and the trustees' associations bargain central terms with teachers' federations and education workers' (support staff) unions. These terms can include areas such as wages, class sizes, benefits/sick leave and hiring practices.
- The provincial issues are ones that have the greatest monetary effect and they apply to all school boards across the province.
- At the local level, individual school boards bargain directly with their local unions on local issues. These issues are unique to each school board and union, and may include areas such as staffing processes, professional development planning and leadership structures. Local issues typically do not have significant monetary impact.
Central negotiations are ongoing with this employee group. Local negotiations are yet to be scheduled.
For more information, please contact:
Kerry Donnell, Communications Manager, 613-966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, extension 62354, [email protected]