Miss-Delectable
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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2006/08/09/school-layoffs.html
The head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees says the province must come up with early retirement packages for people being laid off at the School for the Deaf in St. John's.
NAPE President Carol Furlong is upset that the province declared 28 support staff positions redundant Tuesday because of declining enrolment.
She said most of the 34 support workers at the school will be laid off, while others will work reduced hours and only four will be kept on full time.
Furlong also said the government did not do a good enough job of informing the workers that their positions were being made redundant.
"There are a number of people at the School for the Deaf who are right now on summer vacation and have not even been notified of this because they couldn't reach them," said Furlong.
"They're going to hear this in the media, that their jobs are gone, and that is very unfair. I think they could have handled it in a far better fashion than they did."
Declining enrolment
Education Minister Joan Burke said the cuts come as a result of declining enrolment.
Burke said there are fewer students living in residence than in the past, so there is no need to keep support staff on the payroll all year.
"Students will be in the school for 190 days and we will staff the residence for 190 days as opposed to 365," said Burke Tuesday.
"The change today was basically brought in because we do have changes in the school. We do have a residence we're operating that can accommodate 90 students; we only will have 12 there come September and we certainly had to make some changes to reflect the demographics and what we're dealing with."
Furlong, meanwhile, said the province needs to provide options for the affected workers, such as early retirement packages, to help ease the effects of the job loss. Most of the workers being laid off are long-time employees who will not be transferred to other jobs, she noted.
The head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees says the province must come up with early retirement packages for people being laid off at the School for the Deaf in St. John's.
NAPE President Carol Furlong is upset that the province declared 28 support staff positions redundant Tuesday because of declining enrolment.
She said most of the 34 support workers at the school will be laid off, while others will work reduced hours and only four will be kept on full time.
Furlong also said the government did not do a good enough job of informing the workers that their positions were being made redundant.
"There are a number of people at the School for the Deaf who are right now on summer vacation and have not even been notified of this because they couldn't reach them," said Furlong.
"They're going to hear this in the media, that their jobs are gone, and that is very unfair. I think they could have handled it in a far better fashion than they did."
Declining enrolment
Education Minister Joan Burke said the cuts come as a result of declining enrolment.
Burke said there are fewer students living in residence than in the past, so there is no need to keep support staff on the payroll all year.
"Students will be in the school for 190 days and we will staff the residence for 190 days as opposed to 365," said Burke Tuesday.
"The change today was basically brought in because we do have changes in the school. We do have a residence we're operating that can accommodate 90 students; we only will have 12 there come September and we certainly had to make some changes to reflect the demographics and what we're dealing with."
Furlong, meanwhile, said the province needs to provide options for the affected workers, such as early retirement packages, to help ease the effects of the job loss. Most of the workers being laid off are long-time employees who will not be transferred to other jobs, she noted.