As of November 1, approximately 300 educational assistants (EAs) in the Hanover School Division (HSD) are officially on strike after months of back-and-forth negotiations which have been ineffective in producing a deal.
Represented by the education, service, and healthcare union CLAC Local 306, EAs began their negotiations with the HSD in March. Cost of living wage increases, retroactive to 2022, have been the primary focus of their request.
“For a long time, Hanover School Division has had the lowest administrative costs per student in the province,” says CLAC representative Geoff Dueck Thiessen. “This has translated into precarious wages for their EAs, who are paid several dollars per hour less than those in directly neighbouring school divisions.”
On October 24, the union delivered their strike notice to HSD after negotiations failed to deliver on expectations. Two conciliator-assisted bargaining sessions followed on October 30–31. No deal was struck.
According to Thiessen, his union has rarely needed to employ strike action in the past. This time, he says, the strike is regrettable but appears to be necessary.
“CLAC prefers to represent our members in a partnership with employers, and we rarely strike,” Thiessen says. “In this case, it’s the right thing to do. We hope to resolve this as quickly as possible and get these folks back to work with a wage they can live on and that respects their efforts.”
As EAs walk off the job en masse, several picket line locations are planned for Steinbach.
Hilda Hildebrand will be one of those EAs on the picket lines. She admits to being disappointed that her work in the division is not appropriately recognized by HSD.
“HSD strives to be student-centred,” says Hildebrand. “It’s in their mission statement. But we EAs are a crucial, hands-on part of making ‘student-centred’ possible. If we aren’t taken care of, how are we supposed to show up to work every day with all the patience and calm needed to face the many intense challenges of our jobs?”
Local Parents Express Deep Concern
Krista Carswell Shidel is a Niverville mom with a 12-year-old daughter attending Niverville Middle School.
Shidel says that her daughter relies heavily on the one-to-one care provided by her EA support team in school. They are there for daily emotional and learning support, to remind her of tasks she needs to work on, and to ensure that her daughter feels safe in her environment.
Without the EAs, Shidel adds, disruptions in her daughter’s speech and occupational therapy will also come into play.
“She has a connection with her EA,” Shidel says. “Her EA is an extension of our family. She’s there for her when I can’t be. The disconnect between them will impact her emotionally as time goes on. This could create some abandonment feelings and emotions at school that will impact her willingness to learn. She will recognize that her regular routine is different. Big changes like that affect our daughter emotionally and it’s unfair.”
Shidel calls it tragic that the school’s most vulnerable students will be most affected by this walkout. She’s frustrated that her daughter’s education has to come at such a cost.
There’s going to be a lot of additional pressure placed on remaining school staff in the meantime, she adds.
Niverville resident and grandparent Bonny Fehr is experiencing similar anxiety this morning in not knowing what will become of her granddaughter during the EA strike.
Fehr acts as a second mom to her preteen granddaughter, also a student at Niverville Middle School. Fehr is there for after-school care every day and attends all the support meetings regarding her granddaughter’s care needs. When issues arise at school, Fehr is the first to be notified.
My granddaughter needs full-time care all day, every day,” says Fehr. “She has Rett syndrome, [which makes her] nonverbal and with global development delays. She wears pullups because she’s not [toilet-]trained. So the amount of work and effort that the EAs put into our grandchild alone is astronomical. I’m telling you, our granddaughter absolutely loves school and a big part of that is because of what the EAs pour into her every day.”
Fehr says that approximately four primary EAs switch off with her granddaughter on a regular basis. She stands in full support of their desire for a reasonable wage increase and sympathizes with them, knowing that they don’t want to be separated from their young charges right now.
“They shouldn’t have to carry this guilt,” Fehr says. “They should not be forced into this position.”
Still, Fehr is desperately concerned for her granddaughter’s well-being during this time since she’s vulnerable and heavily reliant on the security she derives from the familiar faces of her EA support team.
Last night, Fehr says, her daughter received instructions to put Fehr’s granddaughter onto the bus as usual this morning. The school indicated their intent to do their best to accommodate under the circumstances.
By early afternoon on the first day of the strike, though, Fehr was contacted to come and pick up her granddaughter. The school staff were overwhelmed.
The best Fehr and her daughter can do right now is hope for a quick resolution between the EAs and the division.
“I keep telling everyone that the love, care, attention, and time that the EAs pour into our granddaughter alone is heartwarming,” Fehr says. “It’s not an easy job. Once you get to know the behind the scenes of everything that your EAs do, you can’t even express how appreciative you are of them and how they hold everything together.”
