MEDIA RELEASE: AVRCE In Violation of Province’s Guiding Principles of Inclusion

The Provincial government has ordered many parents of students with special needs who attend schools in the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education to keep their children home while their support workers are on strike. This is a clear violation of the government’s own Guiding Principles of Inclusion.

Specifically, item 4.3, which reads: “Every student should be taught within a common learning environment (e.g., a classroom) with students of similar age within the community school, with flexibility that is based on, and responsive to, the student’s individual strengths and challenges.”

“We have met many children on the picket lines with their parents who are rightfully upset that they have been excluded from pursuing their education. The members who provide the supports they rely on in the classroom are equally devastated: they would much rather be in school than out on strike,” said NSGEU President Sandra Mullen, “If these workers are so necessary that management says these students cannot attend school safely without their support, then why can’t Education Minister Becky Druhan simply pay them the same wage they’re being paid elsewhere in Nova Scotia?”

The union is prepared to return to the bargaining table as soon as government is prepared to negotiate the same pay for the same work, province-wide.

Members of NSGEU Local 73 in the AVRCE include Educational Assistants, Early Childhood Educators, Student Support Workers, Outreach workers, Parent Navigators, Library Personnel, Child and Youth Practitioners, Native Student Advisors, Literacy Support Workers and Student Supervisors. They have been on strike since Monday, October 24th. Members of Local 70 (South Shore Regional Centre for Education) – Early Childhood Educators, Outreach Workers, Administrative Assistants, Clerks, and IT staff – have been on strike since Tuesday, October 25th.

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The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union represents over 34,000 workers who provide quality public services Nova Scotians count on every day.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with NSGEU President Sandra Mullen, please contact:

Holly Fraughton, NSGEU Communications Officer,

902-471-1781 (cell)

hfraughton@nsgeu.ca