An April 3 strike deadline is nearing for unionized Tri-Board Transportation workers.
Wednesday evening representatives of the seven members of CUPE Local 1479 will address Limestone District School Board Trustees, asking them to use their power to direct Tri-Board to pay their transportation planners a fair wage.
Local President Liz James says they are the lowest paid of similar workers across the province, earning 19% below the average.
Other education workers represented by CUPE will also speak at the meeting, many of whom have endorsed a letter to Trustees calling for a fair wage for the Tri-Board workers.
CUPE says requests to make delegations at Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board were denied.
The union claims the cost to settle the dispute and avoid a strike would cost less than $20,000 or about $6,500 per school board – less than three one-thousandths of one percent of each board’s budget.
The workers have already voted down a tentative agreement the included a lower wage offer from the employer.
Tri-Board says it is offering a 3.7% salary increase over four years.
Officials with the organization say a strike will have no impact on the safe operations of school buses.
No talks are scheduled before the April 3 deadline but both sides are working with a mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour.
