RRSD custodial strike is over, but talks continue

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This article was published 03/02/2022 (1507 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rolling River School Division custodians and cleaners have returned to work after three months on the picket line, although CUPE 1630 is still hoping to secure wage increases for its members.

The Manitoba Labour Board officially terminated this strike on Monday after it couldn’t help the union and RRSD officials secure a new collective agreement following a month of negotiations.

The labour board has been attempting to help these two parties reach an agreement since Jan. 4 at the union’s request.

Because of this outcome, the strikers were ordered back to work under Section 87 of the Labour Relations Act.

“These workers have been on the frontline keeping schools safe and clean, but were pushed to the picket lines for three months in the coldest weather,” CUPE Manitoba president Gina McKay said in a Wednesday morning news release. “These workers stood for fairness and didn’t back down despite all odds. We are very proud of them.”

However, the union’s campaign to secure wage parity for its 21 custodians and cleaners is not over.

CUPE 1630 and RRSD representatives are now in the process of finding a neutral arbitrator to consider their respective proposals and settle a new collective agreement within the next 90 days.

CUPE spokesperson David Jacks told the Sun that the union is pretty confident that the talks will go in their favour, since they are asking for the same wage increases that have already been secured for custodians and cleaners at most Manitoba school divisions.

“There’s a pattern that’s been set up at bargaining tables across the province,” Jacks said on Wednesday afternoon. “And we’re just saying that Rolling River School Division custodians and cleaners should be part of that same pattern.”

When reached for comment, RRSD interim Supt. Jason Cline simply wrote in an email that the division is “very happy to welcome back our employees into schools and offices this week.”

CUPE 1630 members originally walked off the job on Nov. 1, 2021, declaring a strike due to an ongoing wage dispute with the division.

The union’s leadership said they are looking to establish 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.

“We remain dumbfounded as to why this particular school division has refused to offer its custodians and cleaners the same as other school support staff across the province,” McKay said on Wednesday. “These workers deserve nothing less.”

Throughout the last three months, the strikers have received substantial support from members of the respective schools, with students from Elton Collegiate, Rivers Collegiate and Minnedosa Collegiate all joining the picket line.

Some of these students publicly stated that sanitary standards have taken a massive hit since the strike began, with the RRSD being forced to hire replacement workers who weren’t as familiar with the layout of each school.

“There was s—t on the walls in the bathroom that was there for like a good week before it was cleaned up,” Grade 11 student Jayden McLeod said during a Dec. 8 walkout at Rivers Collegiate. “There’s little messes that normally would be cleaned up that aren’t being cleaned up.”

One of the largest demonstrations took place at Minnedosa Collegiate on Dec. 9, which attracted around 100 student participants and guest speakers like CUPE national president Mark Hancock.

While RRSD officials remained largely silent during the strike, the division released a statement on Dec. 3 that claims they had already offered CUPE 1630 members a new collective agreement that was “more than fair.”

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, which consists of a salary increase of 6.4 per cent (an average increase of 1.6 per cent per year).

However, CUPE 1630 president Kevin Jay later told the Sun that the figures cited in this 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 on Dec. 3.

“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.”

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