The Limestone District School Board has released the following announcement in response to a possible strike by CUPE members:
Yesterday afternoon, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced that they will begin legal job action across Ontario on Friday, November 4, 2022. This means CUPE members in the Limestone District School Board will be engaged in strike action (full withdrawal of services) as of Friday, should central negotiations not lead to a mutually agreeable agreement between the parties. There are three days of mediation scheduled this week.
Given the range of critical roles and services provided by CUPE members in Limestone, we cannot safely operate schools and offer in-person learning. We have no choice but to close schools and pivot to emergency remote learning. More information about the remote learning format for different students will follow in the coming days. To start, this learning will have to be asynchronous, with educators posting assignments/tasks for students to complete.
Student and staff health, safety, and well-being are of paramount importance, and will guide all decisions.
We remain hopeful that a fair and mutually agreeable agreement will be reached this week without any impacts to classrooms and board operations.
In the Limestone, CUPE Local 1480 represents include Maintenance Workers, Courier Drivers, Caretakers, Office/Clerical Staff, Library Technicians, Early Childhood Educators (ECEs), Educational Assistants (EAs), Interpreters, Intervenors, Intervention Assistants, Communicative Disorders Assistant, Finance Staff (Payroll, Accounting, Purchasing), ITS Staff (Administrators, Specialists, Technicians and Analysts), Educational Services Staff (Technician and Coordinator), Outdoor Education Staff (coordinator, program manager).
We are continuing to assess the impact of a full withdrawal of services for Limestone, but regular operations are not possible without the critical roles provided by CUPE employees.
We appreciate that timely communication is important, and we commit to providing our school communities with additional details on any job action as soon as we can. Updates will be provided via regular school and Board communication channels.
