The final K-12 support staff agreements have been ratified by local unions, school districts and the BC Public School Employers’ Association board of directors under government’s Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate.

The agreements focus on improving services for people and ensuring fair, affordable compensation. 

Each agreement has a three-year term from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022, with general wage increases of 2% per year, plus additional local funds negotiated that will result in tangible improvements to service delivery. 

Some examples of negotiated improvements to service delivery include:

• funding for professional development;
• a premium paid for employee orientations, as well as mileage for casual custodians;
• labour-market increases for specific job classifications; and
• paid “release time” for educational assistants to attend professional development, or collaboration and peer mentorship.

Local unions and school districts that have ratified include:

• SD08 (Kootenay Lake) and CUPE Local 748 with 334 employees;
• SD23 (Central Okanagan) and CUPE Local 3523 with 1,186 employees;
• SD34 (Abbotsford) and Teamsters Local 31 with 897 employees;
• SD40 (New West) and CUPE Local 409 with 371 employees;
• SD47 (Powell River) and CUPE Local 476 with 159 employees;
• SD49 (Central Coast) and the Non-Teaching Staff Association with 45 employees;
• SD52 (Prince Rupert) and IUOE Local 882B with 168 employees; and
• SD83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) and CUPE Local 523 with 464 employees.

With these ratifications, all 69 K-12 support staff agreements have been settled under the Province’s public-sector bargaining mandate.

The ratifications complete the process begun by the September 2018 Provincial Framework Agreement, which paved the way for collective agreements to be negotiated between K-12 local support staff unions and the 60 public school districts throughout B.C.

The Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate supports the government’s commitment to improve the services people count on, make life more affordable and invest in sustainable economic growth. The mandate is consistent with B.C.’s commitment to balanced budgets and sound fiscal management.

Currently, there are approximately 230,000 public-sector employees covered by tentative or ratified agreements reached under the mandate.

Learn More:

Learn more about public-sector bargaining in B.C.: www.gov.bc.ca/psecbargaining