Union for striking Halifax-area school support workers reaches tentative agreement
CBC
The union representing 1,800 school support workers has reached a tentative contract agreement with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education that could bring an end to a five-week strike.
CUPE Local 5047 announced the deal in a news release on Wednesday afternoon.
"This agreement was made possible by the fierce determination of school support staff in [Halifax Regional Municipality], whose strike action forced government and the HRCE back to the bargaining table," CUPE Local 5047 president Chris Melanson said in a news release.
The agreement offers "one possible step toward the change we need to see in the education sector," Melanson said.
No details about the agreement are being released until union members have the chance to see and vote on it. Members will be notified of vote locations and times directly, according to the release.
During the strike, hundreds of students with disabilities have been unable to attend school. Although the Halifax Regional Centre for Education has been able to hire some replacement workers and parents have been allowed into schools to provide support, it has not been enough to get all students back into classrooms.
The strike also shut down the pre-primary program for Halifax-area schools, resulting in 3,000 additional students not being able to attend classes.
In an email to parents, Halifax Regional Centre for Education executive director Steve Gallagher said it's expected the result of the vote will be known by Sunday.
"If the members accept the agreement, all pre-primary children, and students who have not been able to safely attend school without EPAs at work, can return to school on Monday, June 19," he wrote.
Kevin Cunningham has a son in Grade 3 who has not been able to attend school during the strike. He said the situation has been been disruptive.
"He thrives on routine, so he needs that kind of consistency," Cunningham said in an interview.
"He needs the activity. He needs to be included."
Cunningham has argued a strike that results in a segment of students being unable to attend school amounts to a violation of their human rights.There should have been a plan in place to ensure all students could continue attending school during the strike, he said.
"We think it's worth pursuing — the human rights angle — if for any other reason just to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Whether that is the end result I don't know, but it needs to be an issue."
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