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CUPE Members Will Strike on Monday Unless Deal is Reached

UPDATE @ 1 PM: Hastings-Prince Edward District School Board tells My Bancroft Now that schools will remain open during the strike. 

The school board will be meeting this week to go over their next steps.

CUPE members have been under work-to-rule since Monday, but the necessary five days notice has been handed in and now they will be striking as of Monday.

President of CUPE Local 1022 Joanne White explains that it could all change if a deal is reached with the provincial government. “The Education Minister has been saying that he’s available 24/7 but hasn’t sent ay notice of a meeting to CUPE,” she says. Talks have been on-going leading up to the over 55,000 education workers that CUPE represents contracts ending at the end of August, but they have recently broken down.

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White explains to My Bancroft Now in September that the central CUPE team is negotiating in Toronto with the government and when a deal is reached, Local 1022 will begin their negotiation process.

“It’s about student safety,” White stresses. With Premier Doug Ford making cuts to education it has put CUPE in a position where they believe a strike is necessary. “The funding cuts directly impacted the ability to keep all the students safe,” White says.

Positions that will be lost during the strike include education assistants who help children with special needs, administrative staff, janitorial staff, social workers, IT workers, psychologists, child and youth workers and speech pathologists are among the positions that will be picketing on Monday if a deal isn’t reached before then.

Hastings Prince Edward District School Board was not immediately available for comment.

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