Hundreds of striking school support staff and supporters marched across the Macdonald Bridge in Halifax on Monday.
The goal is to draw attention to their contract dispute with the province.
“Negotiations and bargaining should be a two-way conversation. Sadly, when one party doesn’t want to talk, we are going to put ourselves in places where they can see us and force them to talk to us,” says Chris Melanson, President of CUPE Local 5047.
“Our members are not OK right now. They’re not OK with the lack of funding that is being put into their wages, the support, the hours -- and this is not a union issue, this is a government issue.”
Seven of the eight local unions across Nova Scotia accepted the latest contract offer from the province.
The union representing more than 1,800 education workers in Halifax did not.
They include assistive technology support workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi’kmaq, Indigenous and African Nova Scotia student support workers, educational program assistants (EPAs), early childhood educators and library specialists. The sticking point is wages. An offer of a 6.5 per cent wage increase over four years is on the table.
“We just want to be in there doing our work and be valued for it,” says EPA Julie Shields. “It seems like they don’t care enough to come back to the table and discuss it and make it so we can get back to school before the end of the school year.”
Earlier this month, a Halifax Regional Centre for Education spokesperson told CTV News approximately 600 students will be provided with at-home learning opportunities, as their medical, personal, and safety care needs exceed what can be provided in-person, while CUPE members are engaged in job action.
“We miss our kids and we just want to be back into work,” says fellow EPA Melanie Loughnane.
The striking staff received support from honking motorists driving by as well as others on the picket line from members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and the Almagamated Transit Union.
“We are supporting union members as every union should be. We’re out here backing these guys up, they deserve the support,” says ATU president Shane O’Leary.
Melanson says no new talks are scheduled with the province. He says staff will be picketing at schools again Tuesday morning.
