CUPE picket captain Cheryl Chambers (left) and Ellis Pickersgill (middle) with another striking school support worker (Photo by Joe Thomson).
The CUPE strike has now continued for five weeks.
Negotiations continue as nearly 2000 school support workers walk the picket lines for fair wages.
Picket captain and outreach worker, Ellis Pickersgill told us it’s frustrating.
“This fight is about making sure that these jobs are sustainable for us moving forward so these kids can continue to get the support that they deserve,” Pickersgill said.
She said as an outreach worker she deals with families and students. There are 3,000 pre-primary students not going to school, students with special needs who have to stay home as well as students who can go but are suffering in silence because they are not getting the support they need. She adds the province pretends that schools are ok without them, but they are not and that students are struggling. There are families not getting food, medical appointments getting missed and that there is so much more going on that what is on the surface, regarding what these workers do for students and the value they bring to preventative healthcare, childcare and social well-being.
The other picket captain Cheryl Chambers said being on strike has been a rollercoaster. “I’ve been very disappointed that the school board and government would allow us to stay out this long knowing that so many students are being left out, they’re at home not getting the support they need and some are made to feel less than,” Chambers said.
They walked out May 10.
