CUPE school board workers in six districts have ratified the tentative agreement reached on June 21 through provincial bargaining. Members at the Chignecto Regional School Board initially voted against the deal, and will hold a revote in September.
The school boards that ratified the tentative agreement over the summer are Valley Regional, Cape Breton-Victoria, Strait Regional, Tri-County Regional, South Shore Regional and Conseil scolaire acadien provincial.
The three-year deal, which is retroactive to April 1, 2012, includes yearly wage increases of 2, 2.5 and percent. It also includes adjustments to wages for some classifications including lunch supervisors and trades people, and a process to look at a defined benefit pension plan.
CUPE School Board Co-ordinator Kathy MacLeod says, “Bringing seven school board locals to one bargaining table was challenging but uniting. We are pleased that the majority of our members were able to settle their contracts before school returns in the fall.”
The NSSBCU bargains provincially on behalf of 3,700 CUPE school board workers outside of Halifax. It represents employees in every job classification, other than teachers, in the province’s P-12 school system.