CUPE and the 55,000 education workers they represent will walk off the job for the second time in two weeks if a contract agreement with the provincial government is not reached by Monday.
On Nov. 16 the union served five days notice of their intention to strike. It comes just two days after the government officially repealed Bill 28 to get the two sides back to the bargaining table.
Much like the first time around, if a strike goes into effect on Monday the Waterloo Catholic District School Board will once again close their doors and students will learn remotely.
The WCDSB has more than 1,200 staff represented by CUPE in multiple roles throughout the board.
“As before, given such a large number of potentially absent staff, should a strike occur, it will not be possible to safely open and operate our schools,” the school board said on their website.
“If a strike occurs, and schools are closed to in-person attendance, we will move directly to synchronous remote learning.”
The statement continued to say CUPE and the government have negotiation dates scheduled up to and including Sunday November 20, 2022 and the board hopes the two sides will reach an agreement before Monday.
Minster of Education Stephen Lecce called the strike notice “disappointing” after what he felt was a fair offer by the government in the latest round of bargaining. That offer included a $1 an hour raise that would equate to 3.59 per cent a year.
For the full update from WCDSB visit wcdsb.ca.
More to come.
