Schools in the Bruce Grey Catholic District School Board will be closed Friday if CUPE doesn’t reach a labour agreement with the province before then.
A letter from the school board says the following:
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has announced a full withdrawal of services
this Friday, November 4, 2022 if they are unable to reach a negotiated collective agreement with
the Provincial Government.
For the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, this withdrawal of service will include our
Educational Assistants, Custodians, Office Administrators, Early Childhood Educators, Library
Technicians, IT Field Technicians and CUPE staff at our Catholic Education Centre. This
comprises approximately 420 permanent and casual employees (about 41% of our staff). After
assessing the safety risks for our students and staff, the Board has determined that we cannot
safely operate our schools for students during a full CUPE withdrawal of service. As such, the
Board has made the very difficult decision to close all Secondary and Elementary school
buildings in the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board on Friday, November 4, 2022 unless
a new central agreement between CUPE and the Government of Ontario has been reached.
While we remain hopeful that the ongoing negotiations this week will be successful and a strike
can be averted, we encourage families to make alternate child care arrangements for Friday,
November 4, 2022. Please check the “CUPE Work Action Update” section of the board web
page bgcdsb.org/labour_update for regular updates. The Before and After school programs will
be closed as well. The Brockton Child Care and Wooden Hill Child Care Centres
(pre-school programs) will remain open.
The safety for all is the Board’s primary concern and was the predominant factor considered in
making this decision. We very much appreciate your understanding and thank you for your
ongoing commitment to Catholic education. As circumstances change we will continue to
communicate with you. Again, we still remain hopeful and pray that a settlement can be reached
before Friday morning.
