The South Shore Regional Centre for Education closed all schools Monday morning. Reynolds Pharmasave in Liverpool and the Queens County Museum closed for the day. Some other businesses and organizations remained open.
Environment Canada is predicting continued blowing snow in the afternoon and wind chill of up to -10 Celsius, with temperatures dropping further overnight.
It’s business as usual at schools across Nova Scotia as the province and the union representing school support workers have come to a tentative agreement.
The deal still needs to be ratified by the 5,400 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
The tentative agreement was announced early Wednesday morning.
The union was poised to strike at 12:01 Friday.
CUPE represents a wide range of school support workers across Nova Scotia including bus drivers, cleaners, maintenance and tradespeople, Early Childhood Educators, Educational Program Assistants and Teaching Assistants, and food services staff.
The union was fighting for increased wages.
A petition circulated by CUPE indicates most members earn below Nova Scotia’s median wage of $35,000 per year an amount which has fallen significantly behind inflation.
Neither union executives or government officials are willing to comment on the details until union membership has had a chance to review and vote on the tentative agreement.
Union officials did say they will work to get the information to members and arrange a vote as quickly as possible.
Students may be getting an extra-long weekend if the province and the union representing school support workers can’t come to an agreement on a new contract.
Approximately 5,400 members of CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees will be in a legal strike position effective 12:01 Friday morning.
CUPE represents a wide range of school support workers across Nova Scotia including bus drivers, cleaners, maintenance and tradespeople, Early Childhood Educators, Educational Program Assistants and Teaching Assistants, and food services staff.
The sticking point in negotiations appears to be wages.
In a petition circulated by CUPE in November the union states the “majority of members earn below Nova Scotia’s median wage of $35,000 per year. Our wages have fallen significantly behind inflation. More than half of our members have had to take other jobs to make ends meet, and the vast majority find that wage increases since 2015 have not met our financial needs.”
Because the union represents so many people across the province the impact of a strike will be felt differently depending on the region.
CUPE Local 4682 represents workers on the South Shore.
The South Shore Regional Centre for Education sent a notification explaining the impacts a strike will have on schools:
Grades Pre-Primary – 6 students will continue to attend classes at their school.
Learning for most Grades 7 – 12 students will shift to online except for students who regularly attend class in the learning center who can continue to do so.
Bussing will not be available for any students, unless previous arrangements are in place for the child to be bussed privately.
Schools will not be available for before or after school use, except for any existing childcare programs.
Extracurricular activities that require the use of the interior of the school or school buses are suspended. However, class trips or other activities that do not involve interior school use or buses, as well as sports on fields and school grounds, may continue.
In the statement released April 14, the Regional Centre goes on to say, “We all hope that we can reach an agreement to avoid a labour disruption. However, we must continue to develop plans to ensure that student learning can continue, if a strike occurs.”
Cleaning up after flooding at LRHS. Photo Bradley Judge, South Shore Regional Centre of Education
A teacher is being credited with preventing extensive damage to Liverpool Regional High School when they discovered flooding over March Break.
Around 6:30 Saturday night the teacher returned to school and noticed water on the floor.
They notified the custodian who traced the leak to a defective filter under the sink in the second-floor cooking lab.
Water had soaked the floor and flowed through the first-floor ceiling.
The custodian contacted the operations department at South Shore regional centre for education and it wasn’t long before custodians and staff from several other schools across Liverpool arrived to help clean up.
Within three hours the custodians had dried all the water and a restoration contractor was brought in to assess the extent of the damage.
In addition to many ceiling tiles coming down, ceilings in the change rooms and in the wood shop had to be taken down and will be replaced.
Flooding damaged tech ed shop and locker rooms at LRHS. Photo Bradley Judge South Shore Regional Centre of Education
Coordinator of Operations Bradley Judge says that work is underway and will continue into next week.
But any students or staff hoping for an extended break will be disappointed.
“No worries at all about reopening. It’ll be reopened safely after March Break. We still may have a few areas left to touch up. But talking to the admin people at the school we can work around it,” said Judge. “For example, if the tech ed shop isn’t 100 percent good to go they can use another area. So very slight inconvenience, luckily.”
Judge expects the school should be back to normal within a couple of weeks thanks to the quick actions of everyone involved.
“It’s very lucky. There was a lot of water and if that teacher hadn’t have walked in it would’ve been far worse than what it was,” said Judge. “And if our staff wouldn’t have cleaned it up as quickly and as efficiently as they did we would’ve been facing something different.”
School support workers in the South Shore will vote today on a deal to end their nearly two- week long strike.
The tentative agreement was reached between South Shore Regional Centre of Education and Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union bargaining teams Tuesday with the help of a conciliator.
The union’s bargaining committee is recommending members accept the agreement when they vote on the deal later today.
If the agreement is ratified the workers could be off the picket lines and back into schools Thursday.
The proposed deal comes the same day union members from the Annapolis Valley voted by 92.3 per cent to accept their new tentative agreement.
According to a release from the NSGEU, Annapolis Valley School Support workers will be leveled up to the highest rates of pay for their positions in Nova Scotia during the life of this collective agreement, which extends from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2024.
Getting wage parity for workers in the same jobs across Nova Scotia was the goal of walkouts held in the Valley and South Shore in the past two weeks.
NSGEU President Sandra Mullen was pleased the provincial government let the bargaining process play out.
“After more than a decade of living with the austerity legacy of past-Premier Stephen McNeil, we are finally able to see that the collective bargaining process works, when it is allowed to do so,” said President Mullen, “The current government not only allowed the bargaining process to unfold as it should – without legislative interference tipping the scales – but they have agreed to the principle of parity and fairness for these workers, and that is something that should be credited.”
No details of the proposed agreement between the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and its workers will be released until the membership has the opportunity to see and vote on the deal today.
Striking workers walk a picket line in Liverpool. Photo Susan MacLeod
Striking school workers could be back on the job by Thursday.
After two days of bargaining a deal was reached between representatives of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) and the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education.
The union is recommending members take the offer but are not releasing details of the tentative agreement until workers see it first at their meeting tonight.
Workers from two school districts, the Annapolis Valley and South Shore have been on strike for over a week demanding workers doing the same job are paid the same wage regardless of where they live in the province.
NSGEU President Sandra Mullen says union members have done a good job bringing Nova Scotians to their side by explaining they’re looking for basic fairness.
In fact, when walking the line in Liverpool she spoke with five teenage boys who saw first-hand how school life is impacted by the workers absence.
“I said do you miss these folks being in the school and they said Oh my God, we’re on the line with these guys this is great, and yes we miss you because they don’t know how to do anything. They’re messing up the buzzers and they’re messing up. So, when you have five teenage boys missing the folks that support them in that school they know that these people are who support the students every day and so I mark that as pretty clear that folks know what’s going on and what it’s about,” said Mullen.
Representatives for workers and the South Shore Regional Centre for Education will return to the bargaining table today.
Because the strike from both unions was about getting wage parity across the province, it is safe to assume negotiators representing NSGEU Local 70 will be looking for the same deal the valley workers are voting on this evening.
If bargaining goes well, and members can arrange a vote, school support workers from both regions could be back on the job ahead of Remembrance Day, Friday.
NSGEU President Sandra Mullen speaks to a striking working in Chester. Photo courtesy NSGEU
School support workers are a week into their strike with no end in sight.
The members of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) Local 70 and 73 representing the South Shore and Annapolis Valley are striking to demand equal pay with their counterparts across the province.
NSGEU president Sandra Mullen says the pay scale for every other civil servant in Nova Scotia is the same regardless of where they live, and school workers should be no different.
“The wage for a nurse is the same no matter where they work and the MLAs. The base salary for an MLA is the same across this province whether they are in Metro, Sydney or Yarmouth or in between, it’s the same,” said Mullen.
Striking union members were in the Nova Scotia Legislature on Tuesday to allow MLAs to put a face on the workers on the picket line.
On the floor, NDP MLA Kendra Coombes asked Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Becky Druhan why someone working in the minister’s own riding shouldn’t be paid the same as someone from the city.
The minister replied her government supports parity for all workers across the province, but her department is not directly involved in negotiations.
“There seems to be a misconception across the table as to who exactly is party to the collective agreements that we have in place in education,” said Druhan. “I’d like to remind the members that the parties to our agreements in education are the Regions or the CSAP and the unions. Those are the parties who bargain these deals, those are the parties who are negotiating.”
Mullen isn’t buying it.
She says under the previous school board structure each board would set their own budget and work within it when bargaining wages.
Mullen says since the previous Liberal government under Stephen McNeil abolished the school boards and created the Regional Centres for Education, the money is funnelled from the department so there’s no reason not to set provincial standards for wages.
“So, I believe they’re just throwing it back on the Regional Centre for Education as the employer. Perhaps they are the employer but there’s no doubt in my mind that the decisions they make come from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning [Development],” said Mullen. “That is how we have seen pre-primary programs put in every school is because its provincial it’s the same. So, if we’re going to offer the same curriculum, the same programs in all of those schools, support, outreach programs, all of those things, there’s no reason why they can’t be paid the same.”
A conciliator has invited the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education and NSGEU Local 73 back to the table for a meeting Friday.
No word yet on when the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and its union will return to negotiations.
Meanwhile, striking workers are resolved to stay out of schools and walking picket lines until they get equal pay for equal work.
Striking school workers walk a picket line in Liverpool, N.S. October 25, 2022. Photo courtesy Susan MacLeod
Members of NSGEU Local 70 began their strike Tuesday morning carrying signs and waving at passing motorists as they marched along Bristol Avenue.
The union is bargaining with the South Shore Regional Centre for Education to ensure every member of the union is being paid the same for doing the same work no matter where they work in Nova Scotia.
Workers on the picket line were appreciative of drivers who honked as they passed.
One worker, who didn’t wish to be identified, said despite the support, the line is the last place anyone wanted to be.
“We were all wishing we were at work, for sure. I work with pre-primary, and I was certainly missing the kids and we saw some of them go by. Definitely, wishing we were at work, for sure, but feeling that it was time to take a stand.”
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union represents the 130 workers who walked off the job Tuesday.
NSGEU officials want the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to ensure if a worker does a job in South Shore, they’re paid the same as anywhere else in the province.
It appears government has no intention of intervening in the negotiation process between the workers’ union and their employer, the regional centre for education.
In an email, Government of Nova Scotia spokesperson, Andrew Preeper wrote:
“The NSGEU and its members have identified wage parity across regional centres for education as a key priority. The employer proposed a way to achieve wage parity, including wage increases as well as a process to review positions to ensure compensation fairness and parity. The exact mechanism to achieve this would be discussed at the bargaining table. We respect the parties and the bargaining process and believe discussions with labour unions should happen at the bargaining table, not in public.
Our ongoing hope is that employers can reach an agreement with their locals through the collective bargaining process.”
The worker on the picket line says they will settle for nothing less than equal pay with their counterparts across the province.
They warn these walkouts could be the first of many that will involve other school staff.
“We hear rumblings that the bus drivers are next, and the TAs in the South Shore will be in the new year. Because, down here, that the teaching assistants aren’t part of this union, but same issues is [sic] wage parity.”
In addition to the walk outs, NSGEU is taking their strike action online and asking people to fill out messages of support from their website and Facebook page.
Currently union locals in the Annapolis Valley and South Shore regions are on strike.
They could soon be joined by Local 74 in Tri-Counties who rejected their latest contract offer by 98 percent.
The NSGEU and local representatives have decided to hold off on that strike action until they see if an updated offer is coming from the employer in the next week.
NSGEU workers in Annapolis Valley strike October 24, 2022. Photo Courtesy NSGEU
Workers at schools across the South Shore will be on strike Tuesday morning.
The South Shore Regional Center for Education issued a statement informing parents schools will remain open for grade primary to 12 students, but because Early Childhood Educators won’t be in the classroom the pre-primary program will not be offered.
Members of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union Local 70 including Early Childhood Educators; Outreach Workers, Student Support Workers, Office Administration Assistants; Clerks and IT Support Specialists voted with a 92 percent majority to reject the latest contract offer from the South Shore Regional Centre for Education.
They’re unhappy people who do the same jobs are paid differently depending on which Centre for Education they work for in the province.
Across Nova Scotia, each of the seven Regional Centres and the French school board negotiate their own contracts with their employees.
NSGEU president Sandra Mullen says it doesn’t make sense to have separate contracts with different rates of compensation when the money is coming from one source: the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
“It’s one department and it should be the same wage across,” said Mullen. “ And you know, we have government on record saying they want to get there too. So, now’s the time.”
South Shore Regional Centre for Education Executive Director Paul Ash says the Regional Centre will do its best to get people into key positions to minimize the disruption.
“Obviously when you lose 160 individuals as a result of an impending strike action, we won’t have the same number of resources available but our first and primary goal is to focus on continuing to support the needs of our students,” said Ash.
He says since the days of the old school boards, each region has negotiated contracts with their own employees.
Ash believes a fair offer was made to the Local to stave off a strike and says steps are being prepared to provide parity across all school districts.
“There is a plan to conduct a comprehensive review of all the jobs within all the entities and then align that compensation across the province,” said Ash. “Unfortunately, we’re not at a point where that is happening right now.”
Of the seven regional centres, NSGEU represents five, including Tri-County, South Shore, Annapolis Valley, Chignecto-Central and Halifax.
NSGEU President Sandra Mullen (left) on the picket line with an Annapolis Valley worker October 24, 2022. Photo courtesy NSGEU
NSGEU President Mullen says she’d like to see the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development take a more prominent role in negotiations to ensure parity across all regions.
“They’re not sitting in the room when we negotiate, but I’m sure they’re behind the curtain,” said Mullen.
The South Shore is the second local to strike after NSGEU members in Annapolis Valley already walked off the job Monday.
Mullen says her members would rather be in school doing what they love instead of walking a picket line.
“That’s the heartbreaking part of all this. It is not the children or the school administrator they’re upset with. It is government,” said Mullen. “And it’s government who can make this right.”
Students at North Queens Community School will enjoy a safe grad adventure after fundraising efforts exceeded expectations.
Parents of North Queens grads have been working for two months to raise $9,000. A recent online auction raised close to $4,300 pushing them past their goal for a total just shy of $11,000.
One of the parent organizers Marie Gernon says it was a lot of work but worth it to give students a memorable final night together.
“It’s important that they go have fun and then they just [can say] I graduated, I’m done, you know?” said Gernon.
After COVID restrictions were lifted, the South Shore Regional Centre for Education informed schools they could make their own determination around what graduation celebrations to hold.
North Queens is moving forward with a pre-pandemic schedule of events including prom for grades 7-12 on June 27 and a full, in-person graduation ceremony in the gym on June 29.
Gernon is pleased the students will be ending their time together as a group.
“A lot of the kids have grown up together so it’s nice for them all to have that camaraderie and just see it through and support each other,” said Gernon.
Following the graduation ceremony, the students will board a bus to Halifax to start their safe grad night at Putting Edge and Get Air. Then it’s off to Bridgewater to spend time at HB Studios sports centre before swimming at the Best Western Pool. Once back in Caledonia, they will sit down for breakfast together at the Hollow Log restaurant before heading home.
Gernon calls the way the community rallied to support the graduates a blessing.
Going forward, she hopes parents continue to take an active role in planning graduation activities, not only to take the burden off teachers but to also be part of the celebration.
“You’ve raised them up to this point,” said Gernon. “It’s the parent’s celebration as well. So, it would be nice to see the parents get involved in it again.”
