Friday, November 22, 2019 ~ WEST SHORE
~ West Shore Voice News
Over 600 CUPE staff who are K-12 support staff within the Sooke School District No 62 (SD62) have seen their agreement ratified with the school district and the BC Public School Employers’ Association board of directors under government’s Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate.
The agreements for all local unions in BC focus on improving services for people and ensuring fair, affordable compensation, it was stated today in a release from the BC Ministry of Finance .
Each agreement has a three-year term from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022, with general wage increases of 2% per year, plus additional local funds negotiated that result in tangible improvements to service delivery.
Examples of negotiated improvements to service delivery include:
* increasing clerical hours for remote schools
* creating a skills enhancement and training fund
* creating a professional development training fund
* adding a professional development day for staff
* applying a labour market adjustment for education assistant classifications
* adding non-instructional days for regular and relief certified education assistants
Local unions and school districts that have ratified include:
- SD27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) and IUOE Local 959, with 367 employees
- SD33 (Chilliwack) and CUPE Local 411, with 690 employees
- SD59 (Peace River South) and Teamsters Local 31, with 145 employees
- SD62 (Sooke) and CUPE Local 459, with 601 employees
- SD63 (Saanich) and CUPE Local 441, with 449 employees
- SD73 (Kamloops/Thompson) and CUPE Local 3500, with 696 employees
With these ratifications, approximately 85% of K-12 support staff employees, or 59 out of 69 agreements, have now been settled under the Province’s public-sector bargaining mandate.
The ratifications complete the process begun by the September 2018 Provincial Framework Agreement, which paved the way for collective agreements to be negotiated between K-12 local support staff unions and the 60 public school districts throughout B.C.
The Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate supports the government’s commitment to improve the services people count on, make life more affordable and invest in sustainable economic growth. The mandate is consistent with B.C.’s commitment to balanced budgets and sound fiscal management.
Currently, there are more than 229,000 public-sector employees covered by tentative or ratified agreements reached under the mandate.
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More about public sector bargaining in BC: www.gov.bc.ca/psecbargaining