Noisy museum strike disrupts school
Last Updated: Thursday, September 24, 2009 | 10:36 AM ET
CBC News
Students at Collège Saint Joseph de Hull have classes in a building directly across the street from the noisy picket lines at the Museum of Civilization. (CBC)The shouting and chanting of workers on the picket line at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the constant honks from their supporters are making it difficult for students to study and learn at a neighbouring school.
"We've been trying to study but we can't do it," said Sophie Benoit, a Grade 8 student at Collège Saint Joseph de Hull, a private girls' French high school directly across the street from the museum in Gatineau, Que.
She said the honking has so far affected both exams and classes.
"I can sometimes hear the teacher but very rarely," added her classmate, My-Pham Vo.
The teachers sometimes close the windows, she added, but the 120-year-old building has no air conditioning and is very hot in warm weather.
Good time to teach kids about unions: worker
Picketing workers say their strike could be an educational opportunity for students. (CBC)About 400 workers at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa have been on strike since Monday after talks broke off between management and their union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
The union says job security and wages are the main issues, and claims that workers are paid less than other museum workers in the Ottawa area and too many are on short-term contracts.
Melissa Ferland, who was among the employees clad in orange ponchos walking the picket line in the rain outside the Museum of Civilization on Wednesday, said the union is fighting so today's schoolchildren will enjoy better working conditions when they enter the workforce.
"Maybe it'll be a good opportunity for the teachers to teach those young girls about solidarity, about the labour movement, about strikes in Canada."
Rana Conolly says her daughter, who attends Collège Saint Joseph, has been coming home with headaches since the strike started.
Conolly said she supports the strike, but wishes workers would keep the volume down during school hours.
"They're holding signs down there that say 'Respect for All,'" she said. "Well, what about the girls in the school here who are trying to study?"
