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Instead of locking out unionized teachers, the Liberal government has decided to lock out Nova Scotia’s students.
All public schools in the province will be closed starting Monday, December 5. Education minister Karen Casey made the unprecedented announcement at a press conference held Saturday morning.
The province says the planned work-to-rule action by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) is a public safety issue. Work-to-rule would have limited teachers to only perform contractually-mandated work, and the NSTU had directed staff to show up 20 minutes before and leave 20 minutes after classes. But leaving kids unsupervised violates the Education Act, claims Casey, and that takes precedence over labour negotiations. Students on school grounds would be “left at risk,” said the minister.
“The safety of all of our students is paramount,” said Casey. “If only one student is stranded by the action directed by the union, that would be one too many.”
It’s an unusual admission from the province that the current school system is apparently unmanageable without teachers working above-and-beyond the terms of their contract.
The legislature has also been recalled for an emergency meeting to rush through a new bill designed to end any future strike action by the NSTU. The “Teachers’ Professional Agreement Act” will impose the tentative agreement reached with NSTU’s leadership in October. Teachers overwhelming voted down that agreement and moved to strike later in the month.
According to a tweet by PC MLA Chris d’Entremont, ramming through the new legislation will take at least a week, and possibly longer as the bill will likely face heavy opposition every step of the way by NDP and Progressive Conservative MLAs.
Parents now have fewer than 48 hours to figure out childcare arrangement for Monday morning, and likely the rest of the week.
The 9,300 members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union are still required to show up for work on Monday despite not having any students to watch over.
Related Stories
Hundreds of Nova Scotian students walk out in support of teachers
School closure leaves the most vulnerable at greatest risk
After a day of confusion, students are going back to school
Educational support workers standing with teachers
Province and teachers’ union to resume negotiations
Provincial government and NSTU reach tentative agreement
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2016.
Why not another Yarmouth Ferry
Great job, Jacob. This union-busting Premier has to go.
McNeil government already had the students whole lives at “risk” by refusing to ensure each child receives what he/she needs to be effectively educated, beliving the public has not caught on to their incompetence.
IM GUESSING THE BOOK HE IS READING IS “HOW TO FUCK YOUR KIDS EDUCATION”
the gov. doesn’t have a problem with kids being abused by foster parents .. provable fact
Unbelieveable! They locked out students because Teachers are going to do what is required of them contractually? Goes to show how much Teachers do that they don’t get paid for! Wow! How many of us would do the work of a teacher and not get paid for it? I bet not many!
“Its an unusual admission from the province that the current school system is apparently unmanageable without teachers working above-and-beyond the terms of their contract.”
Karen do you need it spelled out better ??
Are you going to increase the teachers work day ?? My wife already spends 10-14 hours a day on her students.
Fix the system. Somebody get the liberals a proctologist, they need to have their heads removed from their sphincter.
way to go Stevie. vote yourselves a pension for life after 2 years as an MLA and then nickel and dime the education system. by the way why do we have twice as many MLAs percentage wise as the national average and why are they paid on the same scale as Ontario MLAs when the cost of living in Ontario is so much higher? Can you say province house puppets good old boys corporate club?
Are you kidding me. He is an idiot. Just took education away from kids. He has to go!
It doesn’t matter who you vote for, you get the same results. We need to change a lot more than the face of government in this province.
So, teachers are in the classroom..students at home, parents in a pinch, and no one able to protest because the liberal government has tied everyone up. What a democracy. I am beyond finished voting liberal. If my thinking is correct we fought for the right to strike which gives workers better working conditions. Imposing legislation is cowardly.
This was done in B.C. and shot down over a decade later. Ontario with McGuinty, also shot down. All it does is create a trial and waste years of tax payers’ money for the government to be told they were in the wrong. It’s not just N.S., it’s this entire country it seems!
Hell, NDP or Green….give them a chance to screw up.
Monday should be “Take Your Kids to the Legislature Day!” Or would that make the Libs feel “unsafe”, ironically? The McNeil government has poured petrol on its own dumpster fire with this action. Final straw.
They didn’t lock the kids out. It’s in preparation for the teachers walking out. The province has a duty of care and cannot guarantee the children’s safety if there are no teachers.
It’s sad Jacob that you have to put a spin on the story. They don’t teach click-bait as part of journalism. We are not idiots and don’t need to be told what to think.
You’re such a good writer Jacob; surely you can find employment where you could properly put your skills to use. Go on now… Listen to Daddy.
How is this the governments fault? Teachers would have striked after Christmas break was over… they are worried about themselves, not the students. Government did them a favor by not locking them out and doing all tax payers a favor by not funding their unreasonable demands.
“Parents now have fewer than 48 hours to figure out childcare arrangement for Monday morning, and likely the rest of the week.” so they have about 46 more hours than on a snow day. Just treat the time until they legislate everything back to status quo as “liberal white juan” and it becomes much more manageable
I would just like to point out that this action clearly illustrates the lack of respect certain politicians have for the breed of humans called teachers. It is not in the nature of a teacher to ever put a child in danger. They just don’t do it. They will cut out concerts, class trips, parent- teacher meetings, book fairs, fun days, and any paperwork they are asked to do but isn’t contractually required, and all sorts of committee meetings, coaching, extra help, buying resources on their own dime, etc.. But teachers are innately caring, nurturing people. Even cutting out half of those things cuts them to the quick because of the effects it may have on their kids. What they will not do is sacrifice the safety of their students, their kids, their family away from home. To even insinuate that teachers would willingly endanger their kids shows how little they are understood or appreciated. We went through work-to-rule here (Ontario) without any danger to the kids (I’m speaking from a parent’s point of view). In my humble opinion: this is nuts. I wish all of you in NS the best of luck and strength to get through this.
It is interesting that they do this at the same time that over 40% of the kids in Yarmouth County are living in poverty. I think the Liberals along with their President Dr. John Gillis are raking it in before they get the boot.
Both sides claim that they care about the student’s education, yet, guess what is not happening today? This is totally not acceptable regardless of who we blame.
Change composition of classrooms or at least begin the process. You may be surprised how quickly a contract would be accepted. Long service awards have already been in contract. Simply put, don’t break contracts already agreed upon.