School secretaries plan to fight cuts
CBC News
Posted: Jul 4, 2012 4:33 PM NT
Last Updated: Jul 5, 2012 8:13 AM NT
Margaret Corbin is a secretary at O'Donel High School in Mount Pearl. (CBC )
Secretaries with Newfoundland and Labrador's largest school board say they will fight a plan to cut their hours of work.
Officials from the Eastern School District said June 28 they plan to eliminate secretary positions at two schools, and cut five hours per week at 11 other schools.
Margaret Corbin, a secretary at O'Donel High School in Mount Pearl, said she's already working flat out with her existing hours.
"Sure we don't know what a coffee break is. We don't know what lunch breaks are. We sit behind our desks, we give out medications, we do — we do everything," stated Corbin. "From the time we go in in the morning to the time we leave in the evening there is no free time whatsoever."
Eastern School District officials said the group is simply allocating secretary work hours according to its collective agreement with CUPE, the union which represents the secretaries. However Corbin said the cuts will have a disastrous impact on the services schools provide to students, parents and staff.
"You know, it's not just us going to be affected, this is going to be a great domino effect and I don't think that the board is really aware of what they are doing," Corbin said.
School council member concerned
Ron Ellsworth, the vice-chair of the school council and a parent at Macdonald Drive Junior High School, said the board's plan will do more harm than good.
Ron Ellsworth is the vice-chair of the school council at Macdonald Drive Junior High School in St. John's. (CBC )"The activity around the office where the secretaries are has certainly increased over the years. Our schools are all locked down now and if you need to get in a school you got to buzz in. That's all handled by the secretaries," noted Ellsworth.
"So at a time when we are giving our secretarial support staff more and more work, now we are going to start cutting their hours. It really doesn't make any sense and unfortunately the ones who are going to pay the price are going to be students in the schools."
CUPE organizers said they plan to mobilize school administrators, teachers, parents and students to lobby the Eastern School District to stop the cuts.
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