As the strike by support workers at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board drags on, board officials deny allegations some students were asked to clean schools.
The accusation comes from the head of the union local that represents Catholic high school teachers in Windsor-Essex, Brian Hogan.
He says students in detention at Holy Names, and at least once at F.J. Brennan, have been told they have to clean.
"Instead of being in the detention room, go clean up. Go do what a custodian does," says Hogan. "Replacement workers or scab workers, whatever you want to call it, is not [something] you should be putting kids in the middle of."
Monday morning, the board issued a statement denying the claim.
"Any suggestion that students are being asked to do bargaining unit work is absolutely false. Principals in all of our schools have been told that under no circumstances are they to ask students to do custodial work," the statement says.
The statement continues to say students in culinary and technical courses are required to clean up after themselves but are never asked to do work ordinarily done by custodian staff.
Hogan, interviewed Friday by BlackburnNews.com, says his members also wonder if the board is punishing the student council at St. Joseph's for putting pressure on both sides in the dispute to return to talks by locking the student council room.
He says teachers fear some of the tactics employed by the school board appear to be designed to prolong the strike, not resolve it. They're frustrated.
"It's the hypocrisy of saying that it's about the kids, yet they've cancelled some sports events. They've told teachers 'Go home. You can't stay tonight' and work on report cards that are due this week", says Hogan. "They are more concerned about kicking people out so they can clean and so that they themselves can prolong the labour dispute."
The school board fired back, "Mr Hogan insisted that this strike is not his battle, yet he continues to insert himself into it by making false accusations that are based on hearsay."
Hogan urges parents to apply pressure to both the school board and union to return to the bargaining table.
BlackburnNews.com has also attempted to contact the president of Unifor Local 2458, Bruce Dickie.
