Picket Line Tempers Flare On First Day Of Durham School Support Workers Strike

When 70,000 students arrived for class at Durham Region public schools on Wednesday, they received a lesson their parents hoped they would never have to learn – the bitter divide that a strike can lead to.

Some 2,100 members of CUPE Local 218 walked off the job at midnight over wage and workload demands. The union represents teaching assistants, secretaries and others in local schools. But the employees everyone knows will count the most also went with them – the custodians who keep the campuses clean.

Pickets went up early outside School Board Headquarters at Taunton and Thickson in Oshawa  Wednesday. They may spread to high schools by Thursday, but the union has pledged not to include elementary or junior grades in their protests.

It’s only been one day but there was already some tension on the line.

A man in a car picking up his son for a doctor’s appointment from an adjacent school bumped a striker as the picketers blocked his entrance to the Board’s parking lot.

“All we ask is that you stop for a couple minutes,” one striker implored.

“I don’t have a couple of minutes,” came the angry reply.

One of the picketer’s broke the driver’s window after he allegedly hit a colleague in the hip with the vehicle.

The driver then got out of his car and began pushing and shoving a few of the workers.

Many worry those angry feelings will continue to flare if the job action escalates.

“I’m surprised, very surprised,” relates a secretary named Brenda. “This shouldn’t be happening if the board would settle and be fair to people.”

The centerpiece of the dispute is a 9.2 percent wage hike Catholic Board employees received.

The public sector wants the same amount, but the Board insists it simply can’t afford it and has offered only 8.2 percent.

“With the increase, it would put them getting more money than the rest of our employee groups, and as a Board we’re just not prepared to do that,” declares chair Marilyn Crawford. “It’s unacceptable.”

But many workers claim it’s not so much about money, but time.

“Workload definitely,” assures Diane Carey, a secretary. “I can’t do my job in seven hours a day. I need more help.”

“Staffing levels are lower than they need to be to be safe for kids, and we had to draw a line somewhere and that’s where it is today,” adds local president Don Bryans.

While the schools remain open for now, there are fears that the history that took place during a similar walkout in Toronto in 2001 could repeat itself here.

Classes continued during the start of the strike but the halls and washrooms became so filthy, the Board of Heath was forced to close all the buildings down.

And many students didn’t help matters. That appears to be happening again.

“The cafeteria,” points out Candace, a Grade 12 student about what took place inside her school during day one. “People throwing food on tables.”

The strike affects 133 schools in Ajax, Brock, Oshawa, Pickering, Scugog, Uxbridge and Whitby.

There are no immediate plans for any more talks, as parents, staff and the union all settle in to see what happens next – and when.

The Durham Board has taken the following steps during the strike:

• All Community Use of Schools permits will be cancelled.
• All night school classes will be cancelled.
• School-sponsored activities after 5:30pm may be cancelled.
• Cafeterias in some secondary schools will be closed.
• All students are asked to bring a litterless lunch to school.
• School buses will run on a normal schedule.
• All in-school daycares operated by Schoolhouse Playcare
• Centres will be operating. Before and after school programs will be modified to a 7:30am – 5:30pm schedule.
• Parents choosing to keep their children at home should contact their school and follow the regular safe arrivals procedures for reporting a student absence.