Catholic boards to close schools in event of CUPE strike

The Ottawa Catholic School Board and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario will close schools starting Monday if CUPE education workers strike.

On Wednesday, CUPE gave notice of its intention to escalate its current job action to a full strike on Oct. 7 if no deal is reached.

CUPE says it will return to the bargaining table with the province and the Council of Trustees' Association on Friday afternoon in an attempt to avoid a labour disruption.

About 2,300 permanent and casual CUPE educational support workers are employed with the Ottawa Catholic School Board across its 83 schools, including educational assistants, office administrators and library technicians.

The board said it will let its approximately43,000 students know its plans by Sunday night.

An exception will be made for the Central and Admiral Avenue campuses of St. Nicholas Adult High School, which will remain open even in the event of a strike, the board said.

About 31 per cent of the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario's workforce is represented by CUPE across 49 schools.

'It's making us a little scared'

5 years ago

Duration 0:33

Neal Ozga, who has a daughter with special needs, says he's worried what will happen if her school closes if education workers go on strike.

Other boards to post updates

The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) said it will post updates on its website and Facebook page.

"The [UCDSB]employs 1,600 CUPE employees, which represents 40 per cent of our workforce, so the impacts of their current work-to-rule job action have been felt broadly and deeply," the board'sdirector of education, Stephen Sliwa, said in a statement.

"We will continue to assess the situation daily."

Possible school closures leave parents scrambling

5 years ago

Duration 0:46

Parents say news of possible school closures on Monday has them 'disappointed' and looking for alternate childcare options.

In Kingston, both the Limestone District School Board and Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board are currently reviewing contingency plans, including the possibility of school closures beginning Monday.

The RenfrewCounty District School Board says it's currently going over its plans.

Eastern Ontario's French public school board, theConseil des coles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario,said Wednesday its schools will stay open, though community rentals are cancelled until further notice.

The area's French Catholic board's custodians are itsonly workers poised to strike Monday.

No support workers with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are unionized under CUPE.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario who itself held a vote on Thursday about whether to have a strike vote said in a statement that CUPE workers have its full support and encouraged its members to join picket lines in solidarity outside of school hours.

In a statement to CBC on Thursday, Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation president Harvey Bischof said: "I expect my members will be respectful and supportive of any CUPE job action, including picket lines, especially as we share the goal of defending Ontario's high quality publicly funded education system.

"That said, my members have active collective agreements in place and must report to work in order to avoid placing themselves in potential jeopardy with their employer."