Educational program assistants, pre-primary educators and other school support staff in Halifax could walk off the job as early as Monday, Oct. 26, after contract talks with their union hit a wall.

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education told families in an email Thursday afternoon that a conciliator has filed a report with Nova Scotia’s Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration declaring an impasse in talks with the Canadian Union of Public Employees. That puts bargaining at a standstill and starts the process that can lead to a strike. The talks cover every regional centre for education in the province, plus the francophone Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP).

“While we remain optimistic, unless a deal can be reached, CUPE has signaled an intent to commence strike action on Monday, October 26,” regional executive director Steve Gallagher wrote in a letter to parents. As of Thursday, the union had not yet given the 48 hours’ notice the Trade Union Act requires before a strike.

Teachers are not part of this. In HRCE, the CUPE unit covers all term and permanent employees in these jobs, along with substitutes where that applies:

• Educational Program Assistant (EPA)
• Lead Early Childhood Educator
• Support Early Childhood Educator
• Library Support Specialist
• SchoolsPlus Community Outreach Worker
• Child and Youth Care Practitioner
• Mi’kmaw/Indigenous Student Support Worker
• African Nova Scotian Student Support Worker
• Assistive Technology Support Worker

The biggest change parents of young kids would notice: if there’s a work stoppage, HRCE says its Pre-Primary program will be paused. The EXCEL before and after school program isn’t represented by CUPE and would keep running.

For students who rely on EPAs, HRCE says it’s planning so they “will continue to be able to access educational services reasonably and safely.” said in a letter to parents. Principals will start reaching out directly to the families who’d be affected to walk them through those plans. The letter doesn’t say schools would close.

The effects would look different across Nova Scotia, because CUPE represents different groups of workers in each region and at CSAP.

HRCE pointed to this spring’s long-term care dispute as the reason it’s preparing now. “Recent CUPE labour action in the long-term care sector demonstrated that we cannot assume services will continue while negotiations remain unresolved,” Gallagher wrote. That strike, involving about 3,600 care home workers, began in April and lasted roughly eight weeks before a tentative deal was reached.

School support staff have been close to the line before. In the last round of bargaining, CUPE’s more than 5,000 school support workers across the seven regional centres and CSAP voted 94 per cent in favour of job action. A tentative deal reached on Feb. 28, 2025 headed off a province-wide walkout, and members ratified it that March. Two years earlier, in 2023, Halifax’s CUPE Local 5047 voted down a tentative agreement that other locals accepted, sending its members back to conciliation.

Gallagher said HRCE will share updates on the talks and its contingency plans as they come, and will give families “as much notice as possible” before any change that affects students. The earliest a strike could begin is Monday, Oct. 26.