Greater Victoria schools will be open as usual Monday after the union representing education assistants, information technology workers and other support staff reached a tentative deal Friday.
District superintendent John Gaiptman said the agreement with CUPE Local 947 came after a day of talks that included the board’s provincial bargaining agent, the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association.
“I couldn’t be doing better,” Gaiptman said. “We have struck a deal and so school is open on Monday as usual.”
He said both sides decided not to release details of the deal for now. “But both sides have agreed, we shook hands, and I feel comfortable in saying both sides walked away from the table feeling that a fair deal was struck.”
CUPE 947 president Brad Hall said the breakthrough in negotiations came late Friday afternoon.
“Just at the last hour, pretty much, we were able to latch onto something that both of us were able to agree with,” he said.
“I think both of us found the deal ultimately palatable. So the good news is that schools will be open on Monday and we’ve been able to avert a strike.”
School employers’ association interim chief executive officer Mike Roberts said details of the deal will be released after union members and the board of education ratify it. A union vote is expected to take place over the next two weeks.
“In fairness to both sides, the members need to be able to hear [the details] first before it is released to media,” he said.
Roberts said the dispute was stressful, but he was pleased with the outcome. “We certainly didn’t want to see any student in the Victoria school district lose a single day of school. Hard work on both sides, though, led to an agreement.”
CUPE Local 947 had issued 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday, putting the union in a position to set up picket lines at 51 district schools Monday morning and halt classes for nearly 20,000 students.
Teachers and other support staff said they would not cross the lines, and the district had advised parents to keep children home in the event of a strike.
Local 947, which represents about 800 education assistants and other support staff, was the only CUPE local in the province to reject a framework deal between the union’s provincial bargaining team and the school employers’ association. That agreement was ratified by 56 other CUPE locals.
The provincial framework called for a staggered 3.5 per cent pay increase over two years. Local 947 members objected to proposed changes to their prescription-drug benefits package.
The school employers’ association issued a statement Friday disputing the union’s criticism of the benefits package.
“An analysis of CUPE Local 947 members’ 4,700 drug claims from January to October 2013 showed that if those claims were processed under the new plan, only 46 claims would have been affected,” Roberts said.
“In all of those claims, a generic equivalent drug would have covered the claims or a third-party payer would have paid the bill. In no circumstance — in all 4,700 claims — would an employee claim not have been covered.”
lkines@timescolonist.com
