Classes cancelled again as CUPE education workers continue their walkout

Thousands of students across northeastern Ontario will be staying home again Monday, as protests by CUPE education workers continue.

Some 2,000custodians, secretaries and other support staff in our region represented by CUPE remain off the job, among the 55,000 striking across the province.

Charity Sedore, a custodian at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School in the Chelmsfordarea of Greater Sudbury, is expecting an emotional week on the picketline.

"I just want to be back at work. I want this to be over. I miss my students. I miss my staff," said the 38-year-old single mother of three.

"Friday was very nerve-wracking, it was a whirlwind of emotion. The amount of support we got was so overwhelming. We did not anticipate so many people would be standing with us."

Sedore, who has worked as a custodian for four years and is also her local union president, says like many of her members, she doesn't make enough money to pay her household bills.

"I don't. I regularly have to use the food bank," she said, adding that she is a bit nervous that the government is threatening to fine workers who take part in the protests.

"I can't afford to pay groceries, so I don't know how they'd expect me to pay a $4,000 fine."

Protests are once again planned in cities and towns across the northeast, including outside of the offices of Progressive Conservative MPPsin North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins.

The Near North District School Board in the Nipissing district, which had only a few schools closed Friday, announced that it is totally shutdown on Monday.

Classes also continue to be cancelled for theNortheastern Catholic board covering Timmins and Temiskaming, as well as the Huron-Superior Catholic school board in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma.

The Huron-Superior board says it is planning to shift totally to online learning in the coming days, as CUPE represents 30 per cent of its workforce.

TheConseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l'Ontariosays its French public schools in North Bay, Timmins, Kapuskasing and surrounding areas will be closed as long as CUPE workers are off the job.

Meanwhile, the unionand the provincial government are awaiting a decision from the Ontario Labour Relations Board on whether the protests are legal or not.

CUPE was in a legal strike position until the government passed a law Thursday banning them from walking off the job and imposing a new four-year contract.