CUPE 2769 K-12 support workers at the Vancouver Island West School District reached a tentative agreement on June 26 following four sessions of bargaining that began in April.
Local President Darcy Curr was pleased with how bargaining went. “Our bargaining team was committed to what we wanted to achieve and negotiations went very smoothly,” said Curr. “The employer worked with us, and that made getting to the goal line much easier.”
Because SD84 covers a wide geographic area, ratification voting has begun and Curr expects the local to have completed their ratification process early in July. He is looking forward to completing the process and moving forward with the new collective agreement.
The tentative agreement also incorporates the provincial framework agreement approved by the K-12 Presidents Council in September. The current K-12 agreement expired on June 30, 2019. When ratified by CUPE locals and school district Boards of Trustees, the collective 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 in early July.
CUPE 2769 members, who provide a wide variety of services that support students, include Education Assistants, Youth Care Workers, Indigenous Support Workers, Custodians, Trades, Clerical, Maintenance, IT, Administrative Support and Bus Drivers. They provide K-12 support service in Gold River, Tahsis, Kyuquot and Zeballos in SD84 (Vancouver Island West).
To find out more about CUPE members working in K-12, visit bcschools.cupe.ca.