Striking school support workers in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley accept tentative agreement

Striking school support workers in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley voted Tuesday with 92.3 per cent accepting their recommended tentative agreement.

The bargaining committee representing the workers in the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education (AVRCE) reached a tentative agreement with their employer Sunday night.

The new agreement gives employees wage parity with workers doing the same job elsewhere in the province.

“These members have finally achieved a long-overdue and important breakthrough by securing wage parity,” said Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union President Sandra Mullen in a Tuesday press release. “In the face of unprecedented inflation, when many people are struggling to make ends meet, these workers stood together to demand what was right and fair, and together, they were able to achieve parity for their sector.”

The collective agreement extends to March 31, 2024.

Roughly 600 school support workers from the AVRCE walked off the job on Oct. 24, leaving roughly 250 children who required extra support in school unable to attend.

The striking workers included educational assistants, early childhood educators, student support workers, outreach workers, parent navigators, library personnel, child and youth practitioners, Indigenous student advisors, literacy support workers and student supervisors.

Members of Local 73 will be back in school Wednesday.

Meanwhile, approximately 150 workers on Nova Scotia’s south shore remain on strike. Members of Local 70 walked out on Oct. 25 and have a tentative deal to vote on Wednesday.

The recent strike action comes after more than a year of bargaining between the NSGEU and the regional education centres.