Rolling River breaks silence on custodial strike

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This article was published 04/12/2021 (1742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Rolling River School Division finally released a public statement about the ongoing CUPE Local 1630 strike after its custodians and cleaners have been on the picket line for over a month.

In a media release published on the division’s website Thursday, RRSD officials claim that the offer they presented the union on Nov. 22 was “more than fair” and “greater than the original salary proposal by CUPE.”

This offer from the division is a five-year collective agreement from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2023, that includes a salary increase of 7.6 per cent throughout that time (an average increase of 1.5 per cent per year).

By contrast, this statement claims the union’s latest proposal is a four-year collective agreement from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2022, that consists of a salary increase of 6.4 per cent (an average increase of 1.6 per cent per year).

RRSD officials justified their Nov. 22 proposal by stating that the union’s four-year collective agreement would expire in seven months, while a five-year agreement would “allow both parties the space and time to rebuild the positive relationship we had for the past [30-plus] years.”

The division closes out the release by stating: “The RRSD board of trustees remain committed to the collective bargaining process and will continue to work to reach a settlement with RRSD cleaners and custodians.”

During a demonstration at Elton Collegiate on Monday, union president Kevin Jay told the Sun that ongoing negotiations with the division haven’t been productive so far, with the school board’s most recent offer falling short of what CUPE 1630 is asking.

On Friday morning, Jay maintains this opinion and said that the figures RRSD cited in this recent release aren’t accurate, since the school board didn’t factor a cost-of-living adjustment into account.

“The Rolling River School Division wants to add the fifth year because they want to lock in an inflationary increase despite the rising cost of everything,” Jay said over the phone.

“If you’re paying attention to everything on the planet, everything is going up. So to lock in something two years from now … it would be crazy.”

CUPE 1630 members officially walked off the job on Nov. 1, declaring a strike due to an ongoing wage dispute with the division.

The union’s leadership said they are looking to secure annual wage increases of 1.6 per cent, 1.4 per cent, 0.5 per cent, and a cost-of-living adjustment for its custodians and cleaners over a four-year period between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

Jay reiterated on Friday this increase has already been granted to custodians and cleaners at more than 20 different school divisions across the province, with Rolling River being one of the few remaining holdouts.

CUPE 1522 even announced on Nov. 18 that its leadership had successfully negotiated a new collective agreement with the Lord Selkirk School Division, which guaranteed this exact same salary increase to its custodians, librarians, secretaries and other support staff.

“Again, we only want parity,” Jay said on Friday. “We’re not asking for more, we’re not asking for less. Just parity. And the numbers that they are coming up with are not accurate.”

RRSD interim Supt. Jason Cline declined to provide the Sun with any further comment on the ongoing strike beyond what was outlined in Thursday’s media release.

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

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