VANCOUVER — More than 3,000 support staff workers in six school districts have ratified a five-year agreement, the B.C. government announced Saturday.
CUPE support staff workers in Burnaby, Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, Sooke, Powell River, and West Vancouver will receive 5.5 per cent wage increase over the five years, with potential for additional increases if the B.C. economy exceeds the annual forecasts.
The government says within 30 days of ratification of a new collective agreement by a board of education, the local union and BCPSEA, the board will reimburse each employee for all scheduled hours that the employee has not been paid during the B.C. teachers strike.
These six districts are the first to have fully ratified agreements in place for support staff workers. The remaining districts are working to ratify agreements by November.
In a statement Saturday, Minister of Education Peter Fassbender said these agreements mean that support staff will begin to see money lost during the strike.
“These agreements benefit all British Columbians as they ensure services will continue to be delivered effectively and at a cost that is affordable to government and taxpayers,” he said.
The deal was reached under the government’s economic stability mandate, a proposal to give employees a conditional, incremental wage increase equal to half of any percentage point gain in real GDP growth above the Economic Forecast Council’s annual forecast, in exchange for modest increase in wages and benefits spread over five years.
