Proposal to cut school custodians could get dirty: union

Sixteen full-time custodians could be eliminated from the Greater Victoria school district, leading to unclean conditions, warns the president of the teachers’ union.

“This means even less time for custodians to clean, which means dirtier schools,” said Jason Gammon, head of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association.

The proposal would see evening custodians cut and their work added to that of daytime staff, said Fred Schmidt, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees 382. “Our custodians are overloaded with work already.”

But district superintendent Piet Langstraat said no decisions have been made.

“It is really, really premature for there to be any discussion of what the workforce is going to look like,” he said. “This is simply in the discussion, planning and thinking phase.”

Langstraat noted there is a clear need for custodians given the November Supreme Court of Canada ruling restoring class sizes and composition to 2002 levels. The decision could result in classes with fewer students.

“We’re looking at more classrooms and more spaces to clean, obviously, with the result of the Supreme Court case,” Langstraat said.

Also being looked at is a need for more tradespeople to deal with deferred maintenance around the district, he said.