To our fellow CUPE school support staff in Nova Scotia: We know folks have been looking for an update on the progress of bargaining after we announced our strong strike mandate in October.
As you all know, Premier Tim Houston called a provincial election just days after that announcement. A few days later, we were informed by the HRCE and the SRCE that the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development ordered all bargaining dates scheduled before the election to be cancelled. Please see our public statement on bargaining being cancelled here.
What’s next?
At this point, almost all our eight locals have filed for conciliation. No conciliation meeting dates have been scheduled before the election either, but you can see the list of scheduled dates below.
- Local 964 – December 3
- Local 4682 – December 11
- Local 5047 – December 13
- Local 5050 – December 17
- Local 3890 – January 7 & 8
- Local 955 – January 15
- Local 2272 – January 16 & 17
We anticipate that progress in conciliation may take more than one meeting, so if your local is listed above, please watch out for an interim update from your local executive following the initial conciliation meeting, and an update from the Council before the holidays. As we confirm other meeting dates, we will provide further updates for those locals.
Getting our message out to the public
This past weekend we recorded interviews and testimonials with members speaking about the challenges we face every day at work.
Thanks to all who made the journey to the CUPE office in Dartmouth on Saturday to participate!
If you are interested in taking part in activities like this in the future, please let us know (and we hope you enjoy the behind-the-scenes photos)!
We want to ensure that the impact of poverty wages and burnout on school support staff remains top of mind as we head into the holiday season, so please continue to share the campaign page with your networks: cupe.ca/safeschools!
Just a few months after launching our Safe Staff, Safe Schools report and associated campaign, thousands of people across Nova Scotia have now visited the campaign page and sent a letter endorsing our recommendations to their elected representatives.
As always, please reach out with any questions you may have!
Nelson Scott (Local 5050), Andrew Weaver (Local 964), Kevin Carther (Local 3876), Ciarán Llachlan Leavitt (Local 955), Jenny-Lynn Wardrope (Local 3890), Robert Amero (Local 2272), Jennifer Cox (Local 4682), and Shelley McNeil (Local 5047)
Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions
Download a PDF version of this update here.