Support workers on strike in Saanich School District
Credit to Author: Cayley Dobie| Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 16:18:16 +0000
Nearly 8,000 students are out of school Monday, as the Saanich School District and the union representing support staff failed to reach an agreement on the weekend to avoid a strike.
After days without contact, the district contacted the union via text message Saturday night to find out if union members had accepted a proposal from the district during a special meeting held earlier Saturday, said Dean Coates, CUPE Local 441 president.
Coates confirmed that staff would proceed with job action starting Monday morning.
“Unless something seriously changes between now and 6 a.m. tomorrow, I expect there will be picket lines at all sites,” Coates said.
The Saanich Teachers’ Association has indicated to the district they are instructing teachers not to cross picket lines.
Support staff in the district’s 14 schools are seeking wage parity with peers in neighbouring districts, where similar work nets a higher paycheque. The union gave this example: an education assistant is paid $21.61 per hour under the last contract in the Saanich district, while a similar worker in the Sooke district makes $25.28, and one in the Greater Victoria district is paid $25.20 an hour.
Saanich School District superintendent Dave Eberwein said support staff in his district have lower wages than those in other districts because the union voted many years ago to forgo a wage increase in favour of improving benefits.
A provincial mandate sets the maximum amount of money available for wage bargaining for all public sector work.
Eberwein said the district has found creative ways to maximize the amount of money they’re able to offer. The proposal on the table offers support staff the maximum the district is allowed to within the provincial mandate, he said.
Eberwein said the district has been told repeatedly by the province that the mandate will not be opened.
“The risk for government in opening up the mandate for one union is that they have to open it for everybody,” Eberwein said.
He remains hopeful that the district and the union will come to an agreement to minimize disruption to students and families.
“I empathize with the frustration that they’re feeling. Our goal is to come to a resolution as quickly as possible,” he said.
Coates said the proposal that members discussed Saturday, which the district put forth in September, offers an hourly pay increase of about 30 or 40 cents that is largely funded by the members’ own money by converting financial benefits to salary.
Coates said the lower wages make it hard to attract and retain staff in support roles. As a result, schools are often short-handed and education assistants are in “constant triage mode,” he said.
“A lot of this is about our working conditions,” Coates said. “Ultimately, our working conditions are one and the same with the children’s learning conditions.”
Meanwhile, parents across the district are scrambling to find last-minute childcare. James Taylor, vice-president of the Confederation of Parents’ Advisory Councils of Saanich, said the hardest part for parents is not knowing how long kids will be out of school.