Two Windsor Circus School instructors and performers held an information picket Sunday to call for higher wages and to fight against a contract presented to them by the school.

The two instructors, including aerialist Kaitlyn Schram, have unionized with the Windsor branch of the Industrial Workers of the World for help with their demands. It was with support from other union members that the pair held the picket event outside the circus school.

Schram says at $15 per hour, wage is a huge sticking point.

"We're paid well below industry standard," she said, arguing that they should be making closer to $25 or $30 per hour.

"We're seeing this big gap in very physically demanding work and work that requires lots of skill and training."

School says it was taken aback

Aside from the wages, the pair refused to sign the employment contracts presented to them which include non-compete clauses. According to the co-owner of the school, Joe Jelasic, they're the only two staff members out of 14 who have not signed the contracts.

Co-owner of the Windsor Circus School Joe Jelasic says he'd like to meet with the two instructors to try and reach some sort of amicable agreement. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)

Schram claims that because they refused to sign, she and her colleague have been locked out of the school.

But Jelasic says that's not accurate. He said that when they didn't want to sign the contract, the school decided to sub in their classes until they'd had more time to review the contract.

"It's not necessarily a lock out. They're welcome to come in and talk with us and discuss and we'd like them to," he said.

Negotiations expected soon

Jelasic said he was taken aback by the announcement of the picketing event, explaining that he had only heard about it Sunday morning.

A performer trains at the Windsor Circus School. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)

"Since we were given unfortunately no notice for this, and we never actually had any complaints up to this point, it was a very surprising thing to have happen," he said, though he acknowledged that it's great that the instructors are exercising their rights.

He explained that the contract instructors were asked to sign, which included non-disclosure and non-compete agreements were, intended to protect the school's proprietary information.

As for the wages, he argued that the pay scale is comparable to businesses in similar fields, and that as a small business, they just don't have the means to pay people $25 per hour or more.

He said he has requested a meeting with the instructors and hopes to reach an amicable solution soon.