The union representing support workers in the North East School Division has brought in 11 more members into its ranks.
Eleven caretakers working at Nipawin schools voted to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4875.
“I look forward to representing caretakers in Nipawin alongside their fellow CUPE members who work as educational associates in classrooms at Central Park Elementary School, LP Miller School, and Wagner Elementary School,” said Patricia Gausman, the local’s president and a caretaker within the division, in a media statement.
Don Rempel, the division’s director of education, said they were agreeable to the unionization process.
“The board as an employer thinks it’s important that employees have a choice and that fair labour practices are observed,” he said.
Before the creation of the North East School Division, the Melfort, Tisdale, Hudson Bay divisions had unionized support workers, while the Nipawin division did not.
For Carrot River, White Fox and Choiceland schools, the caretakers, education assistants, administration assistants, bus drivers and outreach workers remain non-unionized. Within the town of Nipawin, the administrative assistants, bus drivers and administration assistants are non-unionized. The education assistants voted to join CUPE a few years ago.
CUPE said their workers are concerned about job security, wages and benefits in the face of provincial government cutbacks.
Rempel said the vote won’t change how the division will go about trying to secure a 3.5 per cent reduction in salary cost, as mandated by the provincial government.
“The 3.5 per cent mandate is to be established first through working with the union groups, with organized employees, and then the other employees will follow the process after that.”
Traditionally, once unionized staff wages are set, then the division tries to give comparable pay to non-unionized staff.
