Job cuts for education workers at CSC Providence.
CUPE 4299, which represents approximately 850 full and part-time members between Windsor and Owen Sound, says they were notified by the Ontario French Catholic Board that upwards of 50 jobs will be cut by the end of the current school year.
CUPE 4299 represents education workers who work as Educational Assistants, Child and Youth Workers, Registered Early Childhood Educators, secretarial staff, IT staff, custodial workers, social workers, and other non-teaching staff.
The union warns that the layoffs - representing approximately 9.5 percent of its permanent workforce - will have serious consequences for students, families, and school communities.
Anthony Cutrone, President of CUPE 4299, says these cuts come as a direct result of a $3.3-million funding deficit.
Cutrone says they were caught off guard by this news.
"At the beginning of the school year, we were told that this wasn't going to be happening, but then all of a sudden we're in this position here where we're losing positions. And over the past two years, I could tell you just in 2025-26, we lost 12.4 full-time equivalent positions here, and 10.5 of them are Educational Assistants."
He says they wanted the members to know as early as possible.
"We're going to devise a plan, we've already started talking with our team at CUPE National, and these meetings have been ongoing so hopefully the board and the Ford government take us seriously, and all CUPE workers in school board system, and start funding school boards properly to ensure that our students are well taken care of."
Cutrone says it's a fearful time.
"Our message to the parents... please support us, please talk to your school boards, your trustees, and say 'what is going on here?'. We cannot lose any more."
Cutrone says he's not exactly sure how many employees will be impacted locally, but says the bulk of the membership is in the Windsor-Essex region due to having the largest number of schools.
CUPE 4299 and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) are calling on the province to properly fund education and on the CSC Providence to immediately reverse these job cuts.
AM800 News has reached out to CSC Providence for comment and confirmation, but has not heard back at the time of publication.