Halifax school support staff march across Macdonald Bridge as strike nears third week
CTV
Hundreds of striking school support staff and supporters marched across the Macdonald Bridge in Halifax on Monday. The goal is to draw attention to their contract dispute with the province.
Hundreds of striking school support staff and supporters marched across the Macdonald Bridge in Halifax on Monday.
The goal is to draw attention to their contract dispute with the province.
“Negotiations and bargaining should be a two-way conversation. Sadly, when one party doesn’t want to talk, we are going to put ourselves in places where they can see us and force them to talk to us,” says Chris Melanson, President of CUPE Local 5047.
“Our members are not OK right now. They’re not OK with the lack of funding that is being put into their wages, the support, the hours -- and this is not a union issue, this is a government issue.”
Seven of the eight local unions across Nova Scotia accepted the latest contract offer from the province.
The union representing more than 1,800 education workers in Halifax did not.
They include assistive technology support workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi’kmaq, Indigenous and African Nova Scotia student support workers, educational program assistants (EPAs), early childhood educators and library specialists. The sticking point is wages. An offer of a 6.5 per cent wage increase over four years is on the table.
