HANOVER – The Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board (BGCDSB) has announced plans to shift students to remote learning starting Monday, Nov. 21 if the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the province are unable to reach a deal.
Students will receive asynchronous lessons on Monday, Nov. 21 and synchronous learning will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
BGCDSB says the CUPE strike would include educational assistants, custodians, secretaries, early childhood educators, librarians and CUPE staff at the Catholic Education Centre. This comprises about 41 per cent, or 420 permanent and casual employees, of the board’s total staff.
“After assessing the safety risks for our students, the board has made the very difficult decision to close schools to students in the event of a strike,” states a release from BGCDSB. “Safety for all remains the board’s primary concern and was the predominant factor that was considered in making this decision.
“While we remain hopeful that negotiations this weekend will be successful and a strike can be
averted, we encourage families to make alternate child care arrangements for next week, beginning Monday.”
The before and after school programs will be closed as well. The Brockton Child Care and Wooden Hill Child Care Centres will remain open.
On Wednesday, CUPE announced a full withdrawal of services, claiming negotiations with the province have broken down. Several media outlets have reported that the two sides recently agreed to a 3.59 per cent wage increase, but that CUPE is still not happy with staffing levels for their workers.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he remains hopeful the two sides will return to the negotiating table and that a strike will be averted.
