Rolling River workers strike for wage parity

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This article was published 02/11/2021 (1779 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Making good on their promise from last week, custodians and cleaners working for the Rolling River School Division officially went on strike Monday morning.

Twenty-one members of CUPE 1630 gathered outside Rolling River headquarters in Minnedosa to make their grievances known to the public, highlighting a wage discrepancy that exists between them and other school support workers throughout the province.

The crowd was joined by CUPE Manitoba regional director Lee McLeod, who told the Sun Monday afternoon that their strike has been well-received by members of the community so far.

“There’s lots of public support, lots of people honking and people coming out to watch. And there’s other staff in the building who are going in the back door just out of respect,” McLeod said over the phone. “So it’s really nice.”

CUPE 1630 members declared their intention to strike on Oct. 25, stipulating that all 21 custodians and cleaners currently employed by Rolling River would walk out on the job if their demands for wage parity are not met.

This would involve the division signing off on annual wage increases of 1.6 per cent, 1.4 per cent, 0.5 per cent, and a cost-of-living adjustment over a four-year period between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

This is the same deal Manitoba teachers secured earlier this year.

CUPE 1630 president Kevin Jay told the Sun Monday morning the Rolling River administration has repeatedly refused to meet this demand, even though most other school divisions in the province have already secured this wage increase for their support workers.

While the Rolling River administration had an opportunity to address the issue at last Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting, Jay said the offer they came up with fell short of the union’s expectations.

“Like I’ve stated before, there [are] 22 school divisions in the province of Manitoba that have signed off on parity,” he said. “So when you think of 22 divisions that didn’t even squabble over this, and ours just said ‘no, this isn’t happening.’”

The CUPE 1630 president believes the offer is particularly insulting given all the extra work the 21 custodians and cleaners have put into making Rolling River’s 12 schools safe for staff and students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We stepped up, and it would be nice if they stepped up, too,” Jay said. “We did our part. We came together. We didn’t ask. We didn’t hesitate. When this pandemic hit … we didn’t even question it. We just said ‘ we’re here for you.’”

Rolling River interim Supt. Jason Cline wrote in an email to the Sun that the school division “respects the work of all employees and is committed to reaching a resolution with all employee groups.”

“The division believes in and respects the collective bargaining process, and that bargaining is best done between the parties at the bargaining table,” Cline wrote.

Cline didn’t answer the Sun’s follow-up inquiry by press time, including clarification on the union’s claim that the division is bringing in temporary workers to replace the custodians and cleaners on strike.

If this claim is true, McLeod said using sanitation workers who aren’t as familiar with the unique needs and layout of each Rolling River school could put students and staff at risk.

“The concern is they’re not as familiar with the protocols to make sure the schools are clean and are up to the kind of standards that are normally there when you have people who are trained and who do the job day in and day out,” he said.

According to a Monday news release from the union, CUPE 1630 members say the best way to end the strike is for parents and community members to contact their Rolling River school trustee directly and ask them to pass the wage increases that are in line with other school divisions.

“We’re willing to sit down and talk with them at any time,” McLeod said. “These are very reasonable people on the picket line, and it’s simply a matter of fairness. They’re just simply asking for what everyone else has been given in their contract negotiations.”

Three hundred employees of the Lord Selkirk School Division said they are preparing to take similar action, but a strike date hadn’t been declared as of Monday evening.

The Rolling River School Division includes 12 different institutions and five Hutterite colony schools that are located in Westman communities, such as Minnedosa, Rivers, Forrest, Erickson, Rapid City and Douglas.

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