Calgary’s Board of Education said yesterday it will be ready when about 3,700 support staff don’t show up to work tomorrow.
“It’s a huge impact,” said Calgary Board of Education chair of trustees Pat Cochrane. “We’re going to be missing some very important people in our system.”
Lunchroom supervisors, secretaries, special education aides and information technology workers voted overwhelmingly last Thursday to reject a board proposal to keep them at work, with wages and staff treatment as main sticking points.
Their collective bargaining agreement expired more than nine months ago.
While Christine Meikle and Emily Follensbee schools will be closed tomorrow and Wednesday, the remainder of Calgary school’s will be affected differently based on individual needs and circumstances, Cochrane said.
“It’s a really difficult situation … it’s certainly not of our choosing and we’ll find ways to make it work,” said Cochrane, adding the fact that support staff can now walk out at any time since they’ve already given their mandatory 72 hours of notice only acts to compound the situation.
–neil.mackinnon@metronews.ca
