Public school support staff vote for a strike

NEWS RELEASE - ONTARIO SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' FEDERATION

********************** Support staff in Algoma District School Board vote 94.4% in favour of strike

SUDBURY, ON, Feb. 22 - Support staff who work for the Algoma District School Board and are members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation District 2, Educational Support Staff Bargaining Unit, voted following a series of information meetings over the last couple of days for strike action. The Educational Support Staff Bargaining Unit includes office and clerical staff working in elementary and secondary schools and at the board offices, educational assistants, technicians and lunchroom supervisors.

The members of this bargaining unit have been without a contract since August 31, 2003. "Our members are really frustrated and cannot understand why negotiations are taking so long with the school board. Support staff units in some of our neighbouring boards settled well over a year ago, and we have been without a contract for over 18 months. This strike vote is a message to the Algoma District School Board that enough is enough," says Debbie McLeod, President of the Educational Support Staff Bargaining Unit in Algoma.

"Across the province, our teachers and many of our support staff units have been negotiating through the fall because their contracts expired in August, 2004. This group has been working at a contract since 2003. Clearly, they want their contract settled and they are sending a strong message to the school board when their team next negotiates with the board on March 1-2. There is no reason the contract cannot be settled at that time," says Rhonda Kimberley-Young, President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and Chair of the Provincial Responsibility for Negotiations Team of the District 2, Educational Support Staff Bargaining Unit. OSSTF/FEESO, founded in 1919, has 50,000 members across Ontario.

They include public high school teachers, occasional teachers, educational assistants, continuing education instructors, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists, social workers, plant support personnel, attendance counsellors, and many others in education.

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