NORTH BAY, Ont. – Office, clerical and technical employees (OCT) with the Near North District School Board, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1165-1, are asking a provincial conciliator to help with negotiations, as management continues to offer this predominantly female group of workers lower wage increases and inferior benefit contributions.
“This Employer is discriminating against this group,” said Monique Drapeau, CUPE National Representative. “The fight for equality doesn’t seem to have reached this school board – and management is risking a strike by singling out these workers with an inferior benefit and wage offer.”
The Near North District School Board recently settled an agreement with custodial workers, offering 3% annual increases over two years, but the OCT group is only being offered 2% a year. Employer benefit contributions for the OCT group are already lower then other groups:
| OCT | $2,000.00 annual contribution |
| Principals | $2300.00 |
| Secondary Teacher | $2300.00 |
| Elementary Teachers | $2310.00 |
| Custodians | $2200.00 |
| Non-union | $2300.00 |
| EA’s | $2300.00 |
Under the current offer from the board, the OCT group would have to wait until 2006 just to reach the 2004 level of benefit contributions for other employee groups.
“To ensure labour peace, this employer must address this gap and offer fair benefits and wages during conciliation talks,” said Drapeau. “These workers work very hard to make sure children in our communities benefit from the best possible education environment – the board must stop treating them like second class citizens.”
CUPE represents 100 OCT employees at the board, serving North Bay, Parry Sound, Mattawa and Sturgeon Falls area schools, as well as school board headquarters. Conciliation talks will resume on July 25th, 2005.
For further information, please contact:
Monique Drapeau
CUPE National Representative
(705) 474-9765
Robert Lamoureux
CUPE Communications
(416) 292-3999