At 11am today, December 3rd, 2016, the Minister of Education announced that all public schools in the province of Nova Scotia will be closed indefinitely. This was in response to the Nova Scotia’s Teacher’s Union announcement to take Job Action in the form of “Work to Rule”, and what the Department of Education felt could or would lead to students being in unsafe or unsupervised situations during a Work to Rule situation. Also announced was that the Government of Nova Scotia would be sitting in Legislature come Monday December 5th starting at 10am, and the government would be drafting two particular pieces of emergency legislation: 1. An act to end Job Action by the NSTU and get children back to school in front of teachers as soon as possible, and 2. Legislation to impose a contract settlement on the Teachers.
Part of Minister Casey’s statement also included direction for all School Board Employees: Teachers and Support Staff, areto report to work on Monday, at their worksite and they will work their regular hours.
What this means for all CUPE Members of Local 5047, and in turn all employees of the Halifax Regional School Board, is that you are required to go to work on Monday and be there for your regular work hours. What may be unclear at this time is what the work day will look like on Monday, or what any member would be expected to do. We are certain we will have some direction from Administration once at school on Monday. The Executive of your Local would like to state that once again, it is our hope that no CUPE member will perform any duties of any other Bargaining Unit during this unsettled time.
We are certain that many of you have concerns or questions regarding this announcement, however, this is the only information we have at this time. Please rest assured, if there are any changes to statements or any other information made available to your Local, we will send it out immediately and in unison for all. As always, please feel free to refer to the HRSB’s website or the Department of Education’s website for any additional information or statements that may be made available to you and the public.
It is the hope of your Executive that you try to enjoy your weekend and that there will be more information made available for all in the coming hours and days.
As always, thank you for your patience and understanding in such unusual times, and In Solidarity,
Chris
Chris Melanson
President
CUPE Local 5047