Labour strife could close schools this September if the province and the Canadian Union of Public Employees representing support workers can't hammer out a collective agreement.
CUPE local 409 president Marcel Marsolais said his local took a strike vote in May and has a mandate to strike to demand wage increases and job security.
"We are set for September if there is no movement this summer," Maroslais told The Record. "We are looking at less than zero (wage increases). We are not even getting what other large public sector unions managed to achieve in the last six months."
CUPE members in 53 of the 57 kindergarten-to-Grade-7 locals have voted to strike so far.
One of the major concerns for local CUPE members is job security, Marsolais said. The district recently laid off 27 support staff - many of whom work with the district's vulnerable special needs students - in order to balance the budget. In total, the district let go of 60 staff members to shave millions from the budget next year, and the district still owes approximately $4.4 million for previous shortfalls.
"We can't continue to reduce our workforce and provide the support service to students if we don't have the staff to do - that's the biggest one. The biggest one is job security, and number two is some wage increases," Marsoalis said.
But he's not optimistic about the prospect of a wage increase, given that Premier Christy Clark announced there would be a three-year freeze on funding for education and health care in a bid to balance the province's budget.
"She's basically announced three years of no increases and (is) looking at school districts and boards to find the money, and as we know, there is no money," Marsolais said.
CUPE education workers include education assistants, clerical staff, trades, aboriginal workers, youth and family workers, custodians and bus drivers.
