As we wrap up another school year, the K-12 Presidents Council would like to recognize the exemptional work of all school support workers. Throughout the year, students, families, and communities have been able to depend on you every day.

Thank you for your work keeping our schools, buses and other learning environments clean, healthy and safe for all, and for providing the highest quality of services to our public education system.

Celebrating our successes
Over this past school year, we successfully bargained a new Provincial Framework Agreement with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. The 3-year PFA gained new commitments for support staff education, a new Provincial Joint Health and Safety Taskforce with a mandate that includes supporting measures to address workplace violence prevention, and $3 million in annual funding for benefit enhancements.

For members in locals participating in the Unionized Support Staff Extended Health Plan, these enhancements take effect July 1, 2023 (click HERE for a summary of these improvements).

The PFA also included general wage increases and cost of living adjustments that exceed those seen in most other Canadian jurisdictions. The full 6.75 percent wage cost of living adjustment ifor this year of the PFA was triggered. This increase comes into effect July 1, 2023.

The PFA also includes a cost-of-living wage protection for July 1, 2024. We expect to have information on this increase in March of next year.

Building on the PFA, all K-12 school support locals concluded local bargaining in March. Several locals across the province were faced with concession demands. But members stepped up with mobilization efforts, participating in strike training and kept united fronts across the province.

The credit for our successes sits with our members. Your ongoing support and participation helped us make real gains that we can build on in the coming years.

Looking ahead
We all know how quickly summer seems to go by, and the K-12 Presidents Council is already preparing for the next school year. Next October the Council will be holding its first in-person meeting since the pandemic. Local presidents will be discussing the issue important to our members and how your union can best support you in your workplaces.

Once again, thank you for your support and for the work you do every day. Have a good summer.

View PDF here.

The Provincial Joint Job Evaluation Program was first initiated during bargaining of the 2014- 2019 Provincial Framework Agreement, and continued in 2019 and 2022. The purpose of the Provincial Job Evaluation Plan is to implement and maintain a standardized method of measuring and classifying support staff jobs across BC public school districts. The provincial plan will eventually replace the various local plans once fully implemented.

Phase 3 progress update

District job matching has been completed by 63 of 68 support staff locals! This is excellent progress. The five (5) remaining locals are targeting to finish job matching by late summer.

Of the 63 locals that have completed the job matching, 21 are finalized with the remaining 42 to be finalized by fall.

District Joint Job Evaluation Committees (JJECs) use JET (Job Evaluation Tool) to complete the matching assignment. The committees enter their jobs into JET, complete the job information and upload the job description right in the tool.

Fun fact:

Based on the completed 63 locals, there are a total of 2,813 support staff jobs currently entered in JET. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of hard work completed by the JJECs. All of the jobs entered and matched by the JJECs are then validated closely by the Provincial Job Evaluation Steering Committee.

Phase 4

The Provincial Job Evaluation Steering Committee will be finalizing the Provincial Job Evaluation Plan and developing an implementation plan.

Details of Phase 4: Implementation will be shared with you once determined. Implementation will begin once all 68 Locals have completed the matching process. We anticipate matching to be complete and finalized by the end of this calendar year.

Any impacts on wages will be determined in Phase 4, and will be made retroactive to January 2, 2020. It is the parties’ intention that individual incumbents will not be negatively impacted.

Provincial Job Evaluation Steering Committee Members:

Kirsten Daub – CUPE K-12 Coordinator Jane Massy – CUPE, Local 947
Paul Simpson – CUPE, Local 379 & President of K-12 Presidents’ Council Warren Williams – CUPE 15
Tammy Sowinski – BCPSEA Chris Beneteau – BCPSEA
Kevin Black – School District 50 (Haida Gwaii) and SD 91 (Nechako Lakes)
Alanna Cameron – School District 87

Advisors:

Kari Scott-Whyte – CUPE Staff Advisor
Tracey Mathieson– CUPE Staff Advisor
Jackie Bonsal – BCPSEA Staff Advisor
Joe Strain/Ingrid Van Kemanade – BCPSEA Advisor

Committee Support:

Margaret Lau – BCPSEA
Katarina DiSimo – CUPE

Questions

Should you have any questions, please contact a member of your District’s Joint Job Evaluation Committee, Kirsten Daub, CUPE, at kdaub@cupe.ca; or Joe Strain, BCPSEA, at joestrainprovje@gmail.com.

Further Information

Please visit the Joint Job Evaluation Program website section for past information bulletins.

View bulletin.