Should CUPE workers strike on Friday, here’s what you need to know

School boards in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County have spent this week preparing for a possible strike by CUPE workers on Friday.

Schools with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) will be closed should a strike happen, the board said, with students moving to online learning. 

There are 1,200 staff represented by CUPE with the Waterloo Catholic board. They include librarians, education assistants, ESL instructors and lunchtime supervisors.

The board said with such a large number of potentially-absent staff on Friday, it won’t be possible to safely open and operate schools.

Patrick Etmanski, president of the local Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association said his members will continue to teach either in the classroom or at home, as usual, while the CUPE members are off the job.

“At this point, the first day of any job action is going to something sort of like when we have an inclement weather day, like a snow day, and so teachers will be posting work for kids online,” he said. 

“[Teachers] will still be working. They’ll still be posting work for kids and be available for students.”

CUPE also represents workers with St. Louis Adult Learning, St. Isidore Virtual School, St. Don Bosco, all with the WCSDB. St. Louis will be open and running on Friday, a spokesperson with the Catholic board said.

St. Louis adult learning centres

On its website, St.Louis said programs at all of its locations will remain open on Friday. 

“All St. Louis classes will be running daytime, evening and Saturday as per our usual schedule for currently registered students, but it will not be ‘business as usual’,” the centre said.

“There will be no new registrations to any programs should a strike occur. Please be aware there may be picketing near the school.”

Waterloo Region District School Board

Schools within the Waterloo Region District School Board are not affected because the board doesn’t have employees who are members of the CUPE bargaining group, the board said on its website.

Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo any job action on Friday will not affect their ability to get students to school.

Upper Grand schools remain open 

If CUPE workers walk off the job Friday, schools with the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) will remain open.

Some programs with the UGDSB will be affected, however.

The board said community use of schools that have CUPE custodial staff will be cancelled as well as adult ESL classes at St. George’s Centre, Tytler Public School and the Wellington Centre for Continuing Education.

UGDSB does employ custodial staff who are CUPE unionized workers, but almost half of UGDSB schools are maintained by custodial staff that are non-unionized or contracted through a third-party vendor. The board has a list of schools affected on their website.

It’s unclear what will happen should the strike continue the following week. A spokesperson said the board will continue to “monitor the situation closely beyond Friday.”

Wellington Catholic schools remain open

Wellington Catholic District School Board said schools and before and after school programs will be open Friday as well, but the board warns that schools may close if the job action stretches into the following week.

The board said schools reached out to families this week who may require devices for remote learning.

“It may be necessary to close schools during the following week due to health and safety conditions in schools. We encourage parents to prepare for this possible outcome,” the board said in a statement.

There are 60 custodians and maintenance workers represented by CUPE working at all schools with the exception of: