SYDNEY, NS – The union representing some 1,400 school board workers with the Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board (CBVRSB) has written the Board chair asking for a meeting to discuss the planned staffing cuts approved by the Board.
CUPE Local 5050 president, Liz MacDonald says, “I called Lorne Green on April 21 asking for a meeting to discuss the elimination of more than 80 CUPE positions at the Board, and we have yet to hear from him.”
CUPE National Representative Kathy MacLeod says, “We believe we are entitled to the same courtesy that has been extended to the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, and don’t think that is an unreasonable request given the turmoil this announcement has created for our members.
“We are also quite puzzled about the recent posting of five new consultant’s positions when the school boards were told quite specifically by the minister of education that they were to cut these high paid positions, not add new ones,” she says.
CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh says, “We are not convinced that the CBVRSB has followed the criteria set out by Minister Jennex to guide this budgetary exercise. We are in the process of gathering as much detail as possible about the staffing cuts, and once we have that information, we will be asking for a meeting with the minister and will be outlining our questions and concerns directly to her. This is a follow up letter to one we already sent her asking for clarification on the CBVRSB cuts,” he says.
“In addition, we don’t believe that some of the staffing reductions this Board has deemed ‘administrative’ actually fall into that category. In fact, we believe these are frontline positions that will have a direct impact in the classroom and on students,” says Cavanagh.
The full executive of Local 5050 met today to map out a fight back campaign which they will be mounting in conjunction with their national union and CUPE Nova Scotia.
For more information:
Danny Cavanagh
CUPE NS President
(902) 957-0822 (Cell)
Kathy MacLeod
CUPE National Representative
(902) 539-4933 (office)
John McCracken
CUPE Atlantic Communications Representative
(902) 880-8057 (Cell)