Members of the New Westminster union representing support workers in schools voted 95 per cent in favour of a contract that reimburses wages lost during the ongoing teachers' strike.
CUPE Local 409 president Marcel Marsolais said the contract, which the union voted on Monday afternoon, includes a "framework agreement support grant" to offset the cost of lost work from the ongoing labour dispute, which at this point has no end in sight.
"The grant is in place to make all of our members (whole) if they are affected by a strike or walkout till 2017, if that's how long this dispute lasts," said Marsolais.
The pay reimbursement will go back as far to job action that started in May and goes forward indefinitely, the union president told The Record.
“Certainly it’s going to help because our members are suffering. They haven’t had a paycheck since the middle of June,” Marsolais said, noting CUPE members will continue to support teachers on the picket lines during the strike.
The union is now just waiting for the British Columbia Public School Employers' Association – the government’s bargaining agent – to ratify the contract.
“They’ve committed to about a 72-hour turnaround,” Marsolais said. “I’m hoping to hear by the end of the week.”
Education Minister Peter Fassbender said in June that the government decided to pay support staff because they are not responsible for the teachers' strike, according to a Vancouver Sun article.
The CUPE contract also includes a wage increase of 5.5 per cent over five years.
"It's not huge but we have other things ... (including) increasing the funding for student support staff like educational assistants and others that work directly with students, so we are going to get some extra hours in the classroom - that was a big thing for us," said Marsolais, whose local has about 400 members.
While he is pleased to have a pending contract for his members to consider, the union president said he's disappointed that Fassbender didn't agree to the BCTF's recent call for binding arbitration to settle the dispute.
"I believe the BCTF would probably give in and return to school and hopefully get classes up and running until that process is finalized," Marsolais said.
New Westminster CUPE members have joined teachers on the picket lines at schools throughout the city.
Support staff include clerical workers, education assistants, maintenance staff and tradespeople.
