What a School Day Looks Like Without the People Who Make It Work

In the rhythm of a school day, the people who make it work are often the ones least visible. The bus driver who arrives before dawn, the educational assistant who sits beside a child who needs extra help, the custodian who cleans the classroom after the last bell, the librarian who keeps the shelves in order. In Nova Scotia, more than 5,500 of these workers are now on the edge of a province-wide strike, and the parents and students who depend on them are watching with the particular anxiety of people who cannot afford to be surprised.

The Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions, representing eight CUPE locals, announced that it will issue a 48-hour strike notice on Friday if the government and school board employers do not offer a deal that includes at least $3.50 an hour in wage increases over four years . The province's last wage proposal for most job classifications was an increase of $1.62 per hour by the end of a four-year agreement . If no acceptable deal is reached, a province-wide strike would begin on Monday, November 2 .

The union's position is not complicated. Nelson Scott, chair of the council, said the wage demand would bring the lowest-paid CUPE members up to at least $24 an hour . "We don't want to be on strike," he said. "We want to be in the school doing what we do to help the students and support the students and their families" . The language is careful, almost gentle, but the deadline is not. The clock, as Scott put it, is ticking .

What makes this dispute particularly difficult is the diversity of workers it involves. CUPE represents early childhood educators in the pre-primary program, educational program assistants and teaching assistants, bus drivers, librarians, janitors, cafeteria workers, and African Nova Scotian and Mi'kmaw student support workers, among others . A strike would affect different regions in different ways, because CUPE represents different workers with each regional centre for education and the French school board . There is no single disruption; there is a patchwork of them, each felt differently by the families it touches.

For parents, the uncertainty is its own burden. A strike that closes schools means arranging childcare, missing work, and explaining to children why the routine has broken. A strike that keeps schools open but without support staff means classrooms that function at a diminished capacity, with the students who need the most help receiving the least. Neither outcome is good, and both are now plausible.

The government's position has not been detailed in the public statements available, but the union's characterization is that the employer is "trying to wait us out" . Whether that is a fair description or a negotiating posture, the effect is the same: the two sides are not yet at a deal, and the days are counting down. The council said it was hoping the government and employers would return to the table over the weekend, before the strike notice is issued .

For the workers themselves, the decision to strike is not taken lightly. These are people who chose jobs in schools because they wanted to be around children, to help them learn, to make the daily experience of education a little smoother. A strike puts them on a picket line instead of in a classroom, and the irony is not lost on them. "We are doing everything we can to avoid this job action," Scott said. "But if the government don't come back to the table, it leaves us no other choice" .

The weekend will decide. If an offer arrives, the strike notice may not be issued, and the school day will continue as it has. If it does not, the picket lines will form on Monday, and the parents and students who have been watching will learn what a school without its support staff actually feels like. The answer, for many, will be harder than they expect.

Image note: The images in this article were generated using artificial intelligence and do not depict the actual workers or schools described.

Sources: CBC News, CUPE, CityNews Halifax