WINNIPEG More Support Workers in the Sunrise School Division are challenging their trustees and are testing the implications of the Province’s school board amalgamations.
The members of CUPE Local 4456 have voted overwhelmingly to strike if contract negotiations cannot resolve major issues facing them due to the amalgamations. Earlier in the week, members of Local 1618 also voted to strike.
According to Charmaine Hrysio, Local 4456 President, “The School Division has had lots of time to work out the details of amalgamation. Well before the amalgamation, the school board was aware of the wage gap but their response was to ’wait for the anticipated amalgamation’. They’re not making an attempt to equalize wages. We’re not getting fair treatment when it comes to resolving the wage differences and the members have made it clear they’ll strike if necessary to get a fair deal.”
Unresolved issues are largely monetary. The amalgamation has put together workers who are doing similar work but receive very different salaries. While the employer has agreed to some wage increases ” increases which are very slim” said Hrysio these do not equalize salaries across the Division.
“We also want to change our pension plan. We have an alternative plan that costs less to everyone and gives us a great deal more, but the employer is resisting the change,” said Hrysio.
The Union has applied for and been granted conciliation to resolve the impasse. If progress is not made in negotiations, the workers will be in an immediate strike position.
The members who provide clerical, library and computer technology support to the School Division have been without a contract since June of last year.
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For information, contact:
Charmaine Hrysio, President of CUPE Local 4456
Phone: 268-1573
Peter Tartsch, CUPE Representative
Phone: 942-0343, ext. 215
The members of CUPE Local 4456 have voted overwhelmingly to strike if contract negotiations cannot resolve major issues facing them due to the amalgamations. Earlier in the week, members of Local 1618 also voted to strike.
According to Charmaine Hrysio, Local 4456 President, “The School Division has had lots of time to work out the details of amalgamation. Well before the amalgamation, the school board was aware of the wage gap but their response was to ’wait for the anticipated amalgamation’. They’re not making an attempt to equalize wages. We’re not getting fair treatment when it comes to resolving the wage differences and the members have made it clear they’ll strike if necessary to get a fair deal.”
Unresolved issues are largely monetary. The amalgamation has put together workers who are doing similar work but receive very different salaries. While the employer has agreed to some wage increases ” increases which are very slim” said Hrysio these do not equalize salaries across the Division.
“We also want to change our pension plan. We have an alternative plan that costs less to everyone and gives us a great deal more, but the employer is resisting the change,” said Hrysio.
The Union has applied for and been granted conciliation to resolve the impasse. If progress is not made in negotiations, the workers will be in an immediate strike position.
The members who provide clerical, library and computer technology support to the School Division have been without a contract since June of last year.
- 30 -
For information, contact:
Charmaine Hrysio, President of CUPE Local 4456
Phone: 268-1573
Peter Tartsch, CUPE Representative
Phone: 942-0343, ext. 215