Welcome to the CUPE BC K-12 Presidents’ Council site
The K-12 Presidents’ Council represents 57 CUPE locals in school districts across British Columbia.
CUPE represents more than 30,000 education workers including: education assistants, school secretaries, custodians/caretakers, Indigenous support workers, IT workers, Strong Start facilitators, trades and maintenance workers, and bus drivers.
We strive to protect quality public education for all.
Your K-12 provincial bargaining committee met yesterday with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA). At this bargaining session, BCPSEA tabled their first monetary offer. We are sharing BCPSEA’s offer with you to make sure you have accurate information.
BCPSEA proposed a 2-year term, with annual general wage increases divided between different dates in each year.
Year 1 – BCPSEA proposed two options for the year 1 general wage increases
Option A
0.75% as of July 1, 2025
0.75% as of January 1, 2026
or Option B
0.5% + $0.15/hour as of July 1, 2025
0.5% + $0.15/hour as of January 1, 2026
Year 2
1% as of July 1, 2026
1% as of January 1, 2027
This offer falls far short of recent wage settlements reached by CUPE locals across our province. It also falls far short of what school support workers in our province need and deserve. It does not satisfactorily advance our bargaining priorities, and does not respect the critical role we serve in British Columbia’s public education system.
This is BCPSEA’s first offer, and it has not been accepted. We know from the last round of negotiations that collective bargaining is a process, and that there is plenty of work to do before we get to a tentative agreement.
We are committed to the negotiation process and the priorities school support workers across our province identified for this round of bargaining. We will continue to pursue your priorities at the bargaining table, and are in the process of confirming additional bargaining dates. We will provide an update when we have more information to share.
In the meantime, we continue to communicate with other public sector unions who are at the table—including the BC Teachers’ Federation, the BC General Employees’ Union, the Hospital Employees’ Union and the Health Sciences Association of BC—with the common goal of fair wages and working conditions for all public sector workers in our province.
Your continued support and engagement is critical to the success of bargaining. Please make sure your local has your personal email address for updates. You can find updates at bcschools.cupe.ca, our Facebook page @cupek12bc, and directly from your local.
Schools should be a safe, inclusive places. But underfunding for B.C. schools means there are not enough school support workers.
And that’s making school harder. For everyone.
Our students deserve better.
We deserve better.
Over the past school year, thousands of school support workers have signed our message to the Minister of Education telling them and the provincial government we need the resources to support students, and to make B.C. schools safer, better places to work and learn.
We know there are solutions, and we know that we are not alone in wanting proper funding for B.C. schools. The teachers we work with every day, the parents of the students we support, our friends, neighbours, our communities want the same.
So, we have launched a new campaign – Better BC Schools – so the parents, teachers, and members of the communities we serve can add their voices.
Digital and social media ads are running across the province, and we are asking everyone to add their names to our message calling for more funding to make better schools for everyone.
What can I do to help?
Go to betterBCschools.ca and sign our message TODAY!
Go to our Facebook page and share our campaign video with your family, friends, and neighbours.
Locals – please share this bulletin with your local teacher unions, your District Parent Advisory Councils, and other community allies that believe in strong, public schools.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care has informed all B.C. school districts that Learning Improvement Fund allocations for the 2025-2026 school year are now available.
LIF provides an ongoing multi-year commitment from the provincial government for additional resources to the K-12 public education system, specifically targeted to support students with diverse needs. The LIF regulation, including what it can be use for, can be found here.
All B.C. school districts are required to engage in genuine consultation with local unions on how its LIF allocation will be used.
School districts are required to confirm with BCPSEA that consultations were (i) held with mutual respect and cooperation, and (ii) there is legitimate intent to take into account the concerns of both parties. Districts and locals must confirm by signing and submitting the Confirmation of Genuine Consultation form by June 20, 2025.
If your local does not agree that genuine consultations have taken place, please inform your National Servicing Representative. If a local and school district cannot agree on consultations, the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) will work with the parties to facilitate the process.
CLICK HERE for the 2025-26 Learning Improvement Fund Allocations
CLICK HERE for the Confirmation of Genuine Consultation form
Your K-12 provincial bargaining committee met again this week with their counterparts from the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) for the second bargaining session.
Over the two-day meeting, the committees discussed a wide range of important issues that could be addressed in a new Provincial Framework Agreement (PFA). While discussions were cordial and cooperative, it is clear there is more work to do to reach a fair agreement.
Your bargaining committee is hopeful that approaching these challenging discussions head on will help foster real progress on the key priorities of K-12 members across the province. These priorities include fair wages, increased hours, securing public childcare work for our members, and addressing violence experienced by school support workers. We have been clear with BCPSEA – these issues need to be addressed in the new PFA.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for three-days, June 9-11. Members can expect an update shortly after this next meeting.
Learn more about the bargaining process for K-12 school support locals in B.C.
The K-12 provincial bargaining committee met with their counterparts from the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association this week to begin negotiations for a new Provincial Framework Agreement.
Talks began with your provincial bargaining committee tabling a comprehensive set of proposals. With guidance from K-12 locals and the provincial bargaining survey, the union’s proposals covered a wide array of issues, with focus on four key areas. They include fair wages, increased hours, securing public child care work for our members, and addressing violence experienced by school support workers.
This first bargaining session – a 3-day meeting in Burnaby – was positive and cordial. Your bargaining committee voiced a commitment to working cooperatively with public school employers in strengthening B.C. public schools. Your committee was clear with BCPSEA: school support workers need better support to keep providing the services BC students depend on and deserve. These workers also deserve to earn a fair wage to live in the communities they serve.
The bargaining committees are scheduled to meet again in May and June. The K-12 bargaining committee will be sending out regular bulletins as negotiations progress. Watch for them at bcschools.cupe.ca, our Facebook page @cupek12bc, and directly from your local.
Learn more about the K-12 sector bargaining process in B.C.
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