LONDON, Ont. – Thames Valley District School Board workers will be walking the picket line tomorrow morning after mediation talks broke off today. The education and instructional assistants (EAs and IAs), represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), are striking to demand more time to do their work.
“This school board must look at the facts,” said Jennifer Kaufmann, CUPE national representative. “Our members’ workload has increased due to downloading of extra duties and the time allocated to tackle a full day’s work remains at six hours – they need more time to complete their work.”
CUPE 4222, Unit C, represents EAs and IAs, who provide care to special needs children in 186 schools in the City of London and in the counties of Elgin, Oxford and Middlesex.
“This board and school trustees must show leadership and find a way to resolve this strike,” said Kaufmann. “The board had a five million dollar surplus last year – they should be using all of the resources at their disposal to address the real needs of students.”
“Management needs to come back to the table with a willingness to recognize the problems they’ve created by downloading responsibilities without increasing the time workers have to do the work,” said Kaufmann. “The students deserve nothing less.”
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For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Kaufmann, CUPE National Representative - 519-852-2803 cell - 519-433-1753
James Chai, CUPE Communications - 416-292-3999