Parents of children in pre-primary, support programs, struggle amid strike in Halifax

Parents with children in a pre-primary program or who require school support workers in Halifax are speaking out about struggling to get care for their children as the strike of staff at the Halifax Regional Centre for Education nears two weeks since it started.

Members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 5047 — which represents more than 1,800 workers in the HRCE, including pre-primary educators — hit the picket line on Wednesday, May 10.

With the strike, pre-primary classes in the school district are now cancelled.

"It's definitely been challenging," said Julie Fleming. "It came without much notice, so not much time to prepare for child care."

Fleming said before the strike, her four-year-old daughter was attending a pre-primary program. Now with her daughter at home, Fleming says she's concerned about her missing out on "building a foundation for her to enter the education system."

She works part-time night shifts as a registered nurse, Fleming said, which allows her to spend the days with her daughter at home. And in the days since the strike began, she said she's had little luck replacing the pre-primary classes.

"If I were to put her into a different child-care option right now, it would cause an expense in our family that we can't afford," Fleming said, adding that all the daycares she's contacted are full or have closed their wait-lists due to demand.

School routines upset

Her biggest concern is the disruption in her daughter's schedule.

"It is important to me that she's missing out on the program and all the benefits that it gives her … and not seeing any end in sight is disheartening and discouraging."

This week, the HRCE announced it would try to hire replacement workers for striking employees, according to spokesperson Lindsey Bunin. About 20 casual employees are filling in. Parents have also been invited to attend school with their children.

The striking employees include early childhood educators, educational program assistants, assistive technology support workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi'kmaw and Indigenous student support workers, African Nova Scotian school support workers, SchoolsPlus community outreach workers and school library specialists.

Another parent, Teagan Archer-Parrell, said she's facing similar struggles finding child care in the midst of the strike. Her six-year-old son is autistic and has extremely limited speech. She said he relies on school for access to occupational and speech therapies.

"We're missing, obviously, a lot of social interaction. We're falling behind academically, plus we're also just struggling at home with the interruption to his regular routine and scheduling," Archer-Parrell said. "It's been really, really hard on us."

Like Fleming, Archer-Parrell said she's concerned about the drastic change in her son's routine now that he can't attend school.

"He's just really unhappy," Archer-Parrell said. "There's a few times that we've had to drive by the school and he can see everybody outside and he gets really upset and just keeps saying 'school' over and over again, knowing that he wants to go."

Also like Fleming, Archer-Parrell has been at home with her son, trying to keep his learning on track, but it's been difficult trying to recreate that sense of routine outside of school.

No end in sight

"A lot of families are feeling kind of choked out of the whole situation. It's like the louder we scream, the less we're heard," she said. "It's really starting to come to a boiling point with a lot of families that we're in a desperate situation, and there's rumours about this going right on through the summer."

While bargaining the deal, the union had requested wage parity across Nova Scotia's school boards. CUPE locals in the rest of the province voted to accept the government's offer. But workers in the Halifax area rejected the tentative agreement, saying its wages are not high enough.

HRCE was offering a 6.5 per cent increase over three years.

This week, Education Minister Becky Druhan told reporters the ball is now in the union's court.

"It's really at this stage up to CUPE to work with their HRCE members to find a solution to this situation," Druhan said.