A labour settlement between School District 43 and unionized support workers will give parents, schools and students peace of mind going into the summer months.
This weekend it was announced that CUPE 561 K-12 support workers reached a tentative agreement with SD43 last Wednesday, after only seven bargaining sessions.
CUPE president Dave Ginter said the agreement was achieved because of money negotiated for local tables was already in the provincial agreement, “and having many locals reaching settlements helped nudge the parties a little closer to the deal.”
The provincial framework reached last year between the K-12 CUPE presidents council and the BC Public School Employers Association includes 2% wage increases beginning July 1, 2019, to July 1, 2021.
The current K-12 agreement expires on June 30, 2019. When ratified by CUPE locals and school districts, the provincial agreement will be in effect from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022.
Further details of the tentative agreement will not be available until after ratification by all parties. Ratification is expected to be completed by the end of June.
CUPE 561 represents approximately 1,900 members who provide a wide variety of services to SD 43 students, including education assistants, aboriginal support workers, child care workers, custodians, food service workers, grounds workers, trades workers, clerical, IT and administrative works, as well staff in the maintenance shop, in continuing education and in the international education department.
