Support workers paid less than Winnipeg counterparts

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This article was published 23/12/2023 (740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon educational support workers are not making equal pay compared to their Winnipeg counterparts — which is something that is sure to come up in contract negotiations in the new year.

A report released by the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, titled Falling Behind: What Explains a Wave of Strikes in Rural Manitoba School Divisions, says staff like educational assistants, custodians and administrative assistants are looking at a $5-an-hour difference or more in the top wage they can earn compared to Winnipeg wages.

This will be a subject at the bargaining table between CUPE Local 747 and representatives from the Brandon School Division when they continue negotiations in January.

Jamie Rose, president of CUPE Local 747, said negotiations for a new contract for support staff started in November, and the union has already looked at the differences in wages between Winnipeg and Brandon school divisions.

“We’ve done a comparison to Winnipeg school divisions that are comparable to Brandon, and we’ve done comparisons in Brandon. We know there is a difference between Winnipeg, rural and Brandon,” Rose said.

CUPE Local 747 represents custodians, library technicians, maintenance workers, attendance officers, transportation (bus drivers, mechanics and other transportation staff), secretarial and clerical, production chefs, educational, bus, lunch assistants and crossing guards in Brandon.

CUPE’s contract expired in June 2022 and the union may have been waiting for a change in government after not being a fan of the Progressive Conservatives’ wage freeze for public-sector employees introduced by Brian Pallister in 2017.

“The former government had made wage freezes and was hard to deal with. Public services were targeted by the former government,” Rose said.

Bill 28, which was introduced by the PC government, proposed a two-year wage freeze on all public-sector workers. CUPE 747 waited until September 2021 to negotiate a new contract, in which they negotiated back pay of 1.6 per cent for the 2018-19 school year, 1.4 per cent for 2019-2020, 0.5 per cent for 2020-21 and cost of living increase, or 3.3 per cent, in 2021-22.

Rose said CUPE 747 had entered bargaining asking for the same increases that teachers in Pembina Trails School Division had received in February 2021, after an arbitration board ruled the teachers needed a pay increase.

For this new contract, the wage differences, as well as the cost of living, will be discussed.

“We’re there to get a fair collective agreement. We want to work with our employer to get a fair collective agreement,” Rose said.

Brandon workers are not the only ones not getting the same pay as their Winnipeg counterparts. About 300 education assistants employed by the Hanover School Division, which has schools in communities such as Steinbach, Bothwell and Niverville, went on strike for three weeks in November because of low wages and the high cost of living. The strike ended after its union negotiated an immediate 6.3 per cent wage increase.

School divisions around Minnedosa, Lorette and Steinbach have seen negotiations between school boards and unions representing kindergarten to Grade 12 education workers come to a halt in the last two years.

Rolling River School Division saw custodians and cleaners on strike for 92 days during the 2021-22 school year.

Brandon School Division did not return the request for an interview before the Sun’s deadline.

» khenderson@brandonsun.com, with Winnipeg Free Press files