Windsor-Essex school boards developing contingency plans in case of CUPE strike next week

Both of Windsor-Essex's school boards issued statements Wednesday informing parents and students that contingency plans are being developed in the event of a CUPE Ontario education worker strike next week.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) served notice to the provincial government Wednesday stating that the union would escalate its current work-to-rule job action into a complete withdrawal of service if a collective agreement isn't reached by Oct. 7.

"We will be monitoring the bargaining situation closely and will communicate our intentions regarding a contingency plan for our schools as soon as we have a clearer sense of whether the union will indeed move to full-scale job action," reads an excerpt from a Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) media release.

In its own release, the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) confirmed it too is "developing contingency plans in the event of a work stoppage by CUPE employees.

Approximately 55,000 education workers across the province have been solely performing their core duties since the work-to-rule order came into effect Monday.

Those include approximately 550 clerical, custodial, maintenance and information technology employees part of CUPE Local 1348 and CUPELocal 27 with the GECDSB and approximately 570 support employees part of CUPE Local 1358 with the WECDSB.

In addition to only performing core duties, services like the GECDSB's Community Use of School Facilities program have been temporarily suspended during the job action.

As the name implies, the program allows community members to use school cafeterias, gymnasiums and even classrooms for purposes beyond student space.

According to Scott Scantlebury, public relations officer with the GECDSB, 10 schools are currently listed as polling stations in the upcoming federal election.

"It's still undetermined whether [Elections Canada] will still be using them," Scantlebury said in an email. "We are not going to speculate on what may happen it all depends on how things go with negotiations."