“We gave our employer strike notice five days ago, as required by legislation,” said Raymond Giroux, president of Local 4155. “We offered all day Monday to them – before this morning’s deadline. If the board is interested in negotiating with us, why did they not agree to meet us on Monday before this strike deadline? Furthermore, all the same concessions that were there at the beginning of bargaining are still on the table. We are faced with an employer that insists on standing alone in the province in its failure to bargain, and so we have arrived at job action. We are ready to return to the table, and we’ve advised the board of that, but we are still awaiting their call.”
Picket lines will go up this morning at the CSDCEO headquarters at 875 County Road 17 in L’Orignal.
“Our message to parents is this: we would rather be on the job, keeping schools clean and safe. Please call your trustees and tell them you want to see the board back at the table, concluding these talks with a fair deal,” said Giroux.
Local 4155 represents secretaries, clerks, cafeteria watch, custodians, library technicians and IT technicians in schools throughout Eastern Ontario.