A council of union presidents representing 34,000 K-12 support workers in B.C. schools has sent a tentative agreement back for more bargaining.
The tentative deal had been announced last week by the union and the BC Public School Employers' Association but a motion to recommend it to the membership was defeated, with the union heads deciding that more work was needed.
“We’re still in bargaining,” said Warren Williams of the K-12 presidents’ council.
The agreement had recommended a 2% wage increase for each of the three years, among other things.
Local bargaining for School District 43 support workers is expected to start this fall.
Dave Ginter, president of CUPE 561 representing 1,100 school support workers, said he believes local bargaining is most important with education assistants a top priority this year because of their importance in local schools and because there is a shortage.
Meanwhile, the school workers will see their pensions transferred to the Municipal Pension Plan [MPP] effective Jan. 1, 2018, after an application was approved by the MPP board.
The deal affects employed members of CUPE 561, while retirees will remain in the old plan. It was the final step in a process that took over a year to negotiate and included a protest when workers were concerned about a potential loss of retirement benefits, a concern that was removed with the pension plan transfer.
It also means the district no longer has to worry about a $50 million gap in solvency deficiencies identified in 2016, and “substantially adds to long-term financial stability of the school district,“ according to secretary treasurer Chris Nicolls.
The deal was struck in December and was approved by the school board, the MPP board and the provincial government.
Among the terms of the agreement is a 4% wage increase for all transferring members to cover the pension contribution difference between the two plans at an annual cost of $2 million.
Nicolls confirmed that the top-up will be covered by the closure of the post retirement group health benefit program.
