Dozens of schools across the northeast quiet as CUPE workers hit the streets

Some 20,000 students across northeastern Ontario are staying home Friday, as some 2,000 education workers hit the picket line.

They are among the 55,000 custodians, secretaries, educational assistants and other support staff represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on strike across the province. 

This despite a law passed by the Ford government on Thursday, banning them from striking and imposing a new four-year contract on the union.

Hundreds of educational assistants represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) are also off the job today in a sympathy strike, which forced the Rainbow District School Board in the Sudbury area, the largest in the north, to cancel classes for the day.

Also closed today are schools run by the Huron-Superior Catholic board in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma, the Northeastern Catholic board in Timmins and surrounding areas, as well as the Conseil Scolaire Public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario. 

For the Near North District School Board in the North Bay-Nipissing area, the number of CUPE-represented workers varies from school to school.

So only eight schools in that English public board are closed today: West Ferris, Chippewa, F.J. McElligott, Northern Secondary, Humphrey, Evergreen Heights, Alliance and Whitestone Lake.

Some of the school boards in the northeast that are holding classes today, say they will switch to online learning if the strike stretches into next week.