Education workers start work-to-rule after contract talks stall

What effect will the support staff job action have in Hamilton and Halton schools?

School board support staff in Hamilton and Halton are among the 55,000 education workers across the province who began a work-to-rule campaign Monday.

The job action comes after contract talks broke down over the weekend between the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the workers, the provincial government and trustee associations.

The Spectator looks at what impact the job action will have in local schools.

Who is affected?

While there are 55,000 unionized school support staff across the province engaged in the work-to-rule campaign, the workers CUPE represents do different jobs from board to board.

At Hamilton’s public school board, the union represents approximately 500

caretakers and maintenance workers. At Hamilton’s Catholic board, CUPE members include school and board office secretaries, educational assistants, earlychildhood educators, child and youth workers, social workers, speech language pathologists, psychometrists and IT staff.

In Halton’s public board, CUPE represents custodial staff in elementary and high schools. At Halton’s Catholic board, workers affected include custodial staff, early-childhood educators, educational assistants, ESL instructors, IT technicians, library technicians, and school and board office secretaries and clerks.

What will the job action look like in Hamilton and Halton?

Schools will remain open as support staff taking part in the job action are still going to work, but there will be a withdrawal of some core services.

The Halton District School Board sent a note to parents Friday, warning that they may see “some disruptions to normal school operations or the physical conditions of schools.” On its website, HDSB said the labour sanctions will mean that custodial staff will not be sweeping school gymnasiums, hallways or entrances, setting up tables and chairs, or emptying green and blue bin containers. As a result, the board is asking families to bring reusable containers and practice “boomerang” lunches and snacks, meaning that all packaging and food waste is brought home instead of disposed of at school.

The Hamilton public school board said it has plans in place to make sure floors are swept and garbage is cleared. It plans to have before- and after-school care, field rentals and meetthe-teacher nights continue. But the board is cancelling permits held by external groups to rent elementary and secondary school facilities in the evenings and on weekends because of health and safety concerns.

“In addition, our contingency efforts are being directed to support student programming,” says an update from board chair Alex Johnstone.

Hamilton’s Catholic school board has not cancelled their rental agreements. The Halton Catholic school board is encouraging parents to call ahead if visiting elementary schools during the day because of possible delays getting inside through the buzzer system.

What happens next?

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said new mediation dates had been set, but Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said that is not the case. Hamilton’s public board said it will reassess the situation on a weekly basis. The union said members are prepared to escalate job action to get an agreement.