Kootenay Lake School District support workers in favour of strike action

NELSON – School support workers in School District 8 – Kootenay Lake are in overwhelming support of taking job action if they can’t reach a fair collective agreement. Members of CUPE 748, over 400 workers who provide critical service in over 20 schools in the East and West Kootenays, voted 98 percent in favour of job action – such as a strike – in a vote held last week.

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Strike Vote

As you know, we have hit an impasse with the employer and are holding strike votes this week.

Thank you to everyone who came to the meetings in Salmo and Crawford Bay on Monday and Creston on Tuesday.
We are in Kaslo today, Winlaw on Thursday, and Nelson on Friday. You may attend any one of these meetings.

We booked the meetings throughout the area so there would not be too much traveling involved for you all to vote.

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Bargaining Bulletin – CUPE 748

December 15, 2022

Bargaining Update

We want to give CUPE 748 members an update on how bargaining has been going. As you may know, we began bargaining with the school board this month and have met four times. We have exchanged our respective proposals. Unfortunately, we are farther apart on many issues with the school board than we’d hoped.

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We want to hear from you – Bargaining

Your bargaining committee have already been working hard on your behalf to make sure that issues are dealt with, but we need your help and input too. Please take a moment to fill out this survey so we know what is important to you. Thank you for taking the time to participate in the 748 bargaining process.

https://forms.gle/HEuvu1MwcV6Afbnf7

Provincial Framework for our Collective Agreement

September 23, 2022

The K-12 Presidents are endorsing the new Provincial Framework Agreement reached last week. The British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) also endorses the agreement. Both recommend the agreement be part of local collective agreements.

The Provincial Framework Agreement (PFA) has a 3-year term in effect from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025. It includes general wage increases in each year.

  • July 1, 2022: $0.25 per hour wage increase plus an additional 3.24%
  • July 1, 2023: 5.5% increase, and up to 1.25% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). For clarity, the general wage increase will be at minimum 5.5%, to a maximum of 6.75%
  • July 1, 2024: 2% increase, and up to a 1% COLA. For clarity, the general wage increase will be at minimum 2%, to a maximum of 3%

COLA is according to the BC consumer price index annual average.

The PFA also includes provincial government funding for local bargaining to address local issues. It’s based on full-time enrolled students in districts, with a minimum amount.

https://www.cupe.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Provincial_Framework_Agreement_Sept_2022.pdf