About 5,500 Nova Scotia school support staff workers will not go on strike Monday after reaching a tentative deal with the province late Friday evening.

A strike would have involved support staff such as early childhood educators, librarians and student support workers.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the workers, had filed a 48-hour strike notice Friday morning after a 12-hour bargaining marathon broke off.

However, the two sides resumed negotiations Friday evening and bargained for nearly three hours before reaching an agreement, according to Mary-Dan Johnston, a CUPE spokesperson for the Atlantic region.

CUPE recommends deal

“This meets the needs our members have identified,” Johnston said Saturday morning.

“When we received the offer from the other side last night, our negotiating team was happy with that and decided right away, ‘OK, this is a good enough deal to go back to our members.'”

Johnston said details of the agreement would be presented to members in the coming days, with voting plans to follow.

While Johnston could not comment on specifics, she said the wage offer in the new agreement had improved compared to the province’s previous proposal.

On Friday, Finance Minister John Lohr said the province’s previous offer included wage increases ranging from 8.26 to 18.46 per cent over four years, alongside increases of $3.77 per hour for certain positions.

CUPE had been seeking a pay increase of $3.50 per hour for all members by 2029.

“There was absolutely movement and … the bargaining committee was very happy with what came back to us late yesterday and have recommended that to the membership,” Johnston said.

She said that improvements were also made on issues such as workplace safety and staff training.

Rallies planned for Saturday at 14 locations have been cancelled, said Johnston. All but two of the rallies were to be held at the constituency offices of government MLAs.

Premier responds

On Friday evening, Premier Tim Houston confirmed the tentative agreement in a Facebook post.

“Both parties came back together this evening to negotiate with the shared goal of reaching a fair deal and preventing any impacts to students, their families, and all staff in our school system,” he wrote.

The premier said both sides “listened and together found a way forward.”

Houston said the tentative agreement now means “school operations and programs across the province will proceed as usual next week, which is the best and most important outcome for our students.”

Source: CBC Nova Scotia