Support staff in New Westminster schools are overworked and burnt out and won’t be putting in extra hours or working outside their job description come September, the president of the local Canadian Union of Public Employees warned the board of education recently.
Marcel Marsolais said CUPE staff won’t be going above and beyond, and the news comes at a time when the district has slashed about 51 support staff jobs.
“Things are going to be different, and they’re not going to be great for students, they’re not going to be great for staff, because we are going to make it really clear to our members … they’re not going to do anymore than they have to do, because they can’t anymore,” Marsolais said.
Last month, CUPE negotiated a provincial framework agreement with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, the government’s bargaining agent.
Marsolais chairs the CUPE bargaining committee that negotiated the agreement with the province, which includes a 5.5 per cent raise over five years, more hours for education assistants and a better health plan.
The government agreed to fully fund salary increases, as opposed to the previous pay raise, which the school district had to fund out of existing budget, requiring staff cuts to cover the cost.
Individual locals will have until Nov. 30 to ratify the contracts with their respective school districts in order to be included in the provincial framework agreement.
There are issues to work through at the local level, Marsolais said.
“(The employer) could go a little further with some job security clauses,” he said.
The union also wants to resolve issues related to contracting out to non-union workers, the union president said.
CUPE executive member Charlene Ducholke, who works as a secretary at New Westminster Secondary School, also addressed the board at its last meeting of the school year before summer break.
She noted all of the additional work CUPE staffers do.
“Frankly, I feel like I am doing far more than my job description … and I don’t know how much respect we get for doing that,” she told the board. “I don’t know if senior administrators are aware of how many hours we put in.”
The district and the union sat down for local negotiations this week, superintendent John Gaiptman told The Record. The district is “thrilled” with the work CUPE staff do in local schools, Gaiptman said, adding that the district is working to resolve grievances with the union.
“There’s no question that there are some difficult times right now for those that work in the New Westminster school district,” he said. “There have been cuts, there have been layoffs. We’re all feeling that.”
The district has been dealing with budget woes for the last few years and still owes the provincial government $4.8 million. At Gaiptman’s request, a special adviser is slated to review the district’s finances.
CUPE represents more than 27,000 education support workers in 59 locals and 53 school districts throughout B.C. including: education assistants, school secretaries, custodians, First Nations support workers, IT workers, Strong Start facilitators, trades and maintenance workers, and bus drivers.
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