(Dartmouth) - Conciliation talks for 3700 School Board Workers in Nova Scotia have failed to reach a deal. This begins the countdown to a possible province wide work stoppage in all school boards outside of the Halifax region.
CUPE School Board Coordinator Kathy MacLeod says, “The Employer failed to provide an acceptable response on any of CUPE’S bargaining proposals. Representatives from the Employers and the Department of Education arrived for the talks with no mandate for further negotiations since the initial conciliation meeting on October 26, 2009.”
Says MacLeod, “The school board workers have been working under a collective agreement which expired March 31, 2007. This is simply far too long to wait.”
Chairperson of the CUPE Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions Wilfridine Crowdis says, “We are totally offended that the Employers are not willing to make any reasonable offers to settle our negotiations. Our committee remains completely committed to achieving a fair deal and indicated as much to the Employer’s committee. Our offer was turned down flat.”
This latest impasse in negotiations puts another major sector of public employees in Nova Scotia on a road to possible strike action.