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TRURO – CUPE Nova Scotia is calling on Education Minister Jamie Muir to help resolve a strike by school bus drivers in Cumberland County that has gone on for almost three weeks.

Kim Cail, the union’s area Vice-President in Cumberland County says, “Any suggestion that scab labour, so-called ‘replacement workers’, should be used is simply not an option. School boards should not be promoting the use of scabs to end a labour dispute.

CUPE school board workers, including the hundreds of bus drivers we represent across the province, stand in full support of these striking workers. Their demands are both fair and reasonable,” says Cail.

Cail says, “Both the minister and the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board should concentrate on getting back to the bargaining table and working out a solution to the strike.”

CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh warns, “Government intervention that simply dictates the terms of a contract hasn’t worked in other jurisdictions and won’t work here in Nova Scotia. Successful settlements are reached when parties get together and work through the issues at the bargaining table.”

Cavanagh points to the deal that ended a three-week strike by employees in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board in April 2005 as an example of a good negotiated settlement.

For information:

Kim Cail
Area V.P., New Glasgow
(902) 661-4882

Danny Cavanagh
President, CUPE N. S.
(902) 957-0822

John McCrackenCUPE Communications Rep.
(902) 455-4180 (0)
222-8457 (Cell)