L’ORIGNAL, ON – More than 250 education workers with the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien (CSDCEO) have commenced job action this morning. The workers, represented by CUPE Local 4155, have been in bargaining for two years, and are the last school board local in the province to conclude negotiations following an August 2015 expiry date of their collective agreement.
“We gave our employer strike notice five days ago, as required by legislation,” said Raymond Giroux, president of Local 4155. “We offered all day Monday to them – before this morning’s deadline. If the board is interested in negotiating with us, why did they not agree to meet us on Monday before this strike deadline? Furthermore, all the same concessions that were there at the beginning of bargaining are still on the table. We are faced with an employer that insists on standing alone in the province in its failure to bargain, and so we have arrived at job action. We are ready to return to the table, and we’ve advised the board of that, but we are still awaiting their call.”
Picket lines will go up this morning at the CSDCEO headquarters at 875 County Road 17 in L’Orignal.
“Our message to parents is this: we would rather be on the job, keeping schools clean and safe. Please call your trustees and tell them you want to see the board back at the table, concluding these talks with a fair deal,” said Giroux.
Local 4155 represents secretaries, clerks, cafeteria watch, custodians, library technicians and IT technicians in schools throughout Eastern Ontario.
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For more information, contact:
Raymond Giroux, President, CUPE 4155, 613-620-2560
Jacynthe Barbeau, CUPE national representative, 819-351-2704
Michel Revelin, associate coordinator, Ontario School Boards Coordinating Committee, 416-822-3779
Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications, 416-738-4329
Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839
