‘I always stay optimistic, but I just don’t know’: School support staff say they’re hoping for a deal, but ready to walk 

WATERLOO REGION — With a potential strike looming again for more than 55,000 education workers across the province, local union representatives say they’re hopeful a deal can be reached.

But Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2512 president Mechelle O’Hagan said they’re prepared to hit the picket lines Monday if necessary.

“We love our students, we love our jobs, but we do want to stand strong on this one,” O’Hagan said Thursday.

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Local 2512 represents more than 1,200 education workers in Waterloo Region’s Catholic schools.

Talks broke down Wednesday between CUPE and the provincial government, with the union serving notice it will strike on Monday if an agreement isn’t reached.

Provincial CUPE leadership acknowledged it had reached a “middle ground” on wages, but said the government’s offer of 3.6 per cent annual raises over four years across the board wasn’t enough to avert a strike without securing additional full-time staff for schools.

“We do need a raise. No education worker should have to go to a food bank or work a second job,” O’Hagan said.

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“This fight was never just about the wages,” she noted. “We are understaffed every day in our schools. I feel it’s becoming a health and safety issue.”

Educational assistant and past Local 2512 president Joanne Delaney-Fraser said she and her colleagues aren’t able to provide the same degree of curriculum reinforcement they used to.

Students with the most needs — those with aggression issues or personal hygiene needs, for example — get the most attention from taxed staff, with others “falling to the wayside,” she said.

“We always feel there isn’t enough support.”

CUPE represents workers including custodians, early childhood educators, educational assistants and library technicians.

Those workers called off a two-day strike earlier this month after the government agreed to rescind Bill 28, which forced the union into a four-year contract and made it illegal to strike.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board said its schools would close and students would move to synchronous remote learning if another strike occurs.

“As before — given such a large number of potentially absent staff, should a strike occur, it will not be possible to safely open and operate our schools,” the board said in an update on its website.

The board said Chromebooks will be available to students who need them ahead of any school closure.

St. Louis Adult Learning classes will continue in the event of a strike, but St. Louis site offices would be closed. WCDSB extended day programs would not run.