Dear Parents and Guardians,
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has announced a full withdrawal of services this Friday, November 4, 2022 if they are unable to reach a negotiated collective agreement with the Provincial Government.
For the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, this withdrawal of service will include our Educational Assistants, Custodians, Office Administrators, Early Childhood Educators, Library Technicians, IT Field Technicians and CUPE staff at our Catholic Education Centre. This comprises approximately 420 permanent and casual employees (about 41% of our staff). After assessing the safety risks for our students and staff, the Board has determined that we cannot safely operate our schools for students during a full CUPE withdrawal of service. As such, the Board has made the very difficult decision to close all Secondary and Elementary school buildings in the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board on Friday, November 4, 2022 unless a new central agreement between CUPE and the Government of Ontario has been reached.
While we remain hopeful that the ongoing negotiations this week will be successful and a strike can be averted, we encourage families to make alternate child care arrangements for Friday, November 4, 2022. Please check the “CUPE Work Action Update'' section of the board web page bgcdsb.org/labour_update for regular updates. The Before and After school programs will be closed as well. The Brockton Child Care and Wooden Hill Child Care Centres (pre-school programs) will remain open.
The safety for all is the Board’s primary concern and was the predominant factor considered in making this decision. We very much appreciate your understanding and thank you for your ongoing commitment to Catholic education. As circumstances change we will continue to communicate with you. Again, we still remain hopeful and pray that a settlement can be reached before Friday morning.
Respectfully yours,
Director of Education
Chair of the Board of Trustees