The sidewalk in front of the Regina Public School board office was busy Tuesday afternoon, as members of two unions came together to hold an informational picket.
CUPE local 3766, which represents a wide array of educational support staff, voted 95% in favour of a strike mandate back in July, and are considered the lowest paid position in the school division.
CUPE 3766 President Jackie Christianson said her union has previously voted 95% in favour of a strike.
“We’ve been bargaining for three years now, haven’t had a pay increase in four years, and I can say we’ve had less than five full days of meetings in three years,” Christianson said. “The package that the employer has given us is unacceptable.”
Christianson said there doesn’t seem to be any effort into bargaining on the side of the school board.
“When our employer met with us in May, they are done bargaining and we still have most of our proposals still left on the table,” Christianson said. “They only want to talk about money now, and there’s a lot of important things sstill left on the table.”
Christianson said there were some parents worried her members weren’t going to be at school for the first day back.
“Yes, we do have a strike mandate, but we just want to get back to the table at this point,” Christianson said. “They (the parents) value us, there are many teachers that support us as well, they value us, they know the vlue that we provide in the school.”
The union representing custodial staff at the school division, CUPE 650, also joined in on the picket. They have been without a contract for two years, and have only met with the school division on three occasions in that time frame to bargain.
