Hello fellow school support staff, coworkers, friends, we have exciting news! After refusing to meet us at a common table for almost a year, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has agreed to meet the presidents of all CUPE eight locals representing school support staff at one common table to negotiate provincial proposals.
Thanks to the support and effort of all of our members, we have received a written commitment (via email) today to meet at a common table within ten days.
This is a victory—this is your victory!
As you know, the EECD had previously given the seven RCEs and CSAP a specific mandate that prevented any movement on wages at our local bargaining tables. They insisted we negotiate common items at local tables and then prevented employer representatives from actually negotiating. They wasted our time.
The only reason we have gone from a flat-out refusal to have a common table to a commitment to meet at a common table is our collective power. We put pressure on the employer, and it worked! This shows us what we can achieve when we act together.
Why were we pushing for this?
What we’ve been referring to as “common” or “provincial” proposals on issues that will be on the table for every local. Where one local might need to negotiate terms of a specific issue that only impacts their members, items like wages and workplace violence impact all of us. That’s why our strategy as union members has been to negotiate these issues together. If we all bargain those issues at the same time, it prevents the employer from being able to get one local to agree to a smaller wage increase, or less adequate health and safety language, for example. This is how we prevent the employer from employing a “divide and conquer” approach.
For the same reason that we as union members collective bargain one contract for all workers in one workplace, our eight locals will collectively bargain these common items together. That reason is that we are stronger together.
What are our provincial proposals?
You have told us that wages and workplace violence are major priorities for you, and we fought for those to be included. The EECD has agreed to discuss four items at a common table: (1) wages, (2) term, (3) job classification committee and reclassification, and (4) violence in the workplace.
In the meantime, the action outside EECD Minister Brendan Maguire’s office planned for tomorrow is cancelled. We don’t need to go to the Minister now that the EECD is coming to us!
The action planned for February 8th is also postponed.
Any questions, please reach out to your local executive. Please watch out for more updates soon.
Nelson Scott (Local 5050), Andrew Weaver (Local 964), Kevin Carther (Local 3876), Gerrard Matthews (Local 955), Jenny-Lynn Wardrope (Local 3890), Robert Amero (Local 2272), Jennifer Cox (Local 4682), and Shelley McNeil (Local 5047)
Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions