We want to welcome everyone back for another school year. We hope you all had a good summer and had a chance to refresh. We can expect the coming year to be a busy one—not just in our schools, but at the bargaining table.
Collective bargaining
As you’ll remember from the last update in June from your provincial bargaining committee, the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (“BCPSEA”) presented an opening wage offer to CUPE members in the K-12 sector.
This was the employer’s first offer and we do not accept it. The offer falls far short of recent wage settlements reached by CUPE locals across our province and does not meet the needs of our members. Our members need a fair wage increase that keeps up with the rising costs of groceries and other essentials in B.C.
Your Provincial K-12 Bargaining Committee will continue negotiating at the bargaining table towards an agreement that addresses the bargaining priorities of our members. We have another bargaining session scheduled September 22nd & 23rd with BCPSEA. We will provide an update after this session.
Several provincial employers in other sectors have presented opening monetary offers at their bargaining tables over the past few months. Overall, our fellow public sector unions have also rejected these opening offers. And as you’ll have seen in the news, workers represented by the BC Government Employees Union (the “BCGEU”) are currently on strike with the province at several worksites.
We stand firmly in support and solidarity with BCGEU and its members on strike. We are watching this situation closely and encourage members to show their support for their fight for a fair collective agreement.
Standing together
We know that the return to classrooms is an extremely busy time for all of us as K-12 workers, and that the work we do can be both rewarding and, at times, very challenging. As school support workers, hundreds of thousands of students and families depend on the services we provide in our public schools. And as CUPE members, we know we can depend on each other. Your continued support and engagement are critical to the success of students in our schools, and in our collective success at the bargaining table.