February 29, 2000, Vernon CUPE Local 5523 in Vernon, gave their bargaining committee a mandate to strike should that action become necessary to resolve a round of bargaining that has been ongoing for more than a year.
John Hegler, local 5523 president said, ” I want to thank the membership for giving the bargaining committee a strong mandate to negotiate a collective agreement. Its time to get bargaining over with and let people get back to work with some sense of security about their jobs.”
CUPE Local 5523 is one of 47 locals that make up the CUPE K-12 Sectoral Bargaining Committee (SBC). Job security, benefits, pay equity, and pensions are the issues that are common to most locals in the SBC.
Gary Johnson, CUPE national representative, welcomed the information that Vernon has joined Kelowna and other locals in the Lower Mainland, the North, Victoria and the Islands in making it clear that they understand that local boards do not have the authority to do what it takes to resolve local contracts. “They have handed their bargaining authority over to the provincial body, the BC Public School Employers Association, (BCPSEA)” said Johnson, “now its time for BCPSEA and the government to bring some resolution to the growing dilemma.”
Information:
John Hegler, president, CUPE Local 5523
(250) 308-8360
Gary Johnson, CUPE national representative
(604) 219-3703
Regular information updates regarding CUPE K-12 Sectoral Bargaining can be found at www.cupe.bc.ca/sbc