Cuts put union on alert as Department of Education directs districts to find money for more teachers
When Hartland Community School library worker Christine Silliphant went to work on April 28, it started like any other ordinary day.
That changed shortly after school began. Silliphant’s principal arrived at her desk and told her, “with a heavy heart,” that she was being laid off. The Anglophone School District-West (ASD-W) had eliminated library positions.
Silliphant, who worked in the school’s library for the last seven years, said she was “floored” by the news.
“It really was kind of a blindside,” she told the River Valley Sun.
When she received her notice, she called her union representative, only to discover the union was just as shocked. The union was not advised of the coming cuts.
Theresa McAllister is the Provincial President of CUPE 2745, representing nearly 4,400 educational and clerical support staff across the province, including school librarians.
McAllister “heard nothing about (the layoffs) prior” to receiving calls from laid-off staff and media.
“They usually they will give us a two-week notification period that there will be job losses or job cuts,” she said.
McAllister said if the schools have to find efficiencies, the cuts need to “start from the top, not the bottom.”
She said 37 people received layoff notices, which equates to 26 full-time positions being lost.
“One (job) cut is one too many,” McAllister added, noting the district’s actions are “unacceptable.”
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Claire Johnson could not be reached for an interview but issued a news release.
“School districts have been asked to take strategic steps to identify a combined total of $43 million in savings to prioritize services to students to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.”
The release noted that the department’s goal is to “make adjustments that will have the least impact on student success while addressing the growing needs in literacy, numeracy, and behavioural support.”
When asked what the cuts will mean for the province’s literacy scores, Silliphant said she is worried.
“It’s going to be detrimental,” she said. “(The cuts will) diminish the impact we (library workers) have on the kids and learning and literacy.”
McAllister agreed.
“Library workers do much more than shelve books, they assist kids with learning, with getting appropriate that will help them build those (literacy) skills up, finding books that are suitable, that goes to the school library worker not always the teacher,” said the union president.
In the same news release, Charles Renshaw, a communications officer at the Department of Education, said, “Libraries in schools will remain available to students and their class.” The department spokesperson did not explain how the libraries would function without workers.
Paul MacIntosh is the Director of Communications at ASD–W.
“The decision to eliminate library worker hours was not made lightly,” he told the River Valley Sun, ” … but was identified as necessary to fulfill the mandated $9.26 million budget cut.”
He said that when the district was instructed to make the cuts, the province told them “not to impact classrooms in a direct way or to minimise the burden on schools.”
“With a cut like $9.26 million, certainly, unfortunately, programs and staffing are going to be impacted,” he said.
When asked how libraries will continue to function, MacIntosh didn’t answer the question but noted that the situation would be “looked at in the coming months.”
Macintosh also said that while he couldn’t speak about why the union wasn’t notified, he did say that CUPE was given “proper notice as per the regulations.”
McAllister says that if the cuts continue, she and others at CUPE will consider various options.
“Anybody that goes in and does that library work – that’s our work, and we will file grievances on every aspect of our work being done by other parties,” McAllister told the River Valley Sun, adding that heavy protests and potential work to rule are on the table.
When asked what approach ASD-W will take if CUPE chooses to grieve, MacIntosh said it was the union’s “prerogative, (and) if they like to they can follow that process and at the end of the day we will have to go through that process accordingly and see where it all lands.”
