BIGGAR: Striking support workers in the Biggar Public School Division represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees are pleased with the results of a community meeting held last night in Biggar.
The special meeting of school division electors, attended by about 100 ratepayers, overwhelmingly approved motions calling for the resignation of three Division Board members from the management negotiating committee and the discontinuation of the services of Bill Wells, employment officer with the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association. A third motion, calling for the immediate removal of all employer concessions from the bargaining table, also received near-unanimous support.
Last nights meeting clearly proves that the Division Board does not have a mandate to attack our seniority rights and job security provisions, says Penny McCallum, spokesperson for CUPE Local 2128, which represents the 46 striking school workers.
Concerned citizens from the communities of Biggar, Cando, Sonningdale, Handel and Landis gathered signatures under Section 98 of the Education Act to call the special meeting. The minutes of the meeting will be sent to the board of education and Minister of Learning Jim Melenchuk.
The school employees, who have been on strike for four months now, work as caretakers, secretaries, teaching and library assistants. Since February 24, Wells and the Division Board have only been willing to negotiate with the union on four occasions.
We are hopeful that the Division Board will take these motions seriously in order to settle this strike so our schools and communities can return to normal and the healing process can begin, says McCallum.
- 30 -
For more information contact Penny McCallum or Bea Devenny at Strike Headquarters in Biggar
at 948-3860