The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1939 workers' bargaining committee has reached a tentative agreement with the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board on custodians and maintenance workers' local terms and conditions for the period of September 2022 to August 2026.
CUPE education workers voted to ratify their local agreement on June 1 and the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is expected to consider a motion to ratify this tentative agreement at its next regularly scheduled meeting of trustees on June 13. Details of the agreement remain confidential until ratified by both parties.
The central terms and conditions of the collective agreement for these CUPE members were negotiated by their Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) workers' bargaining committee, the Council of Trustees' Associations (CTA), and the provincial government last November. Once this local portion of the collective agreement is ratified, Keewatin-Patricia District custodians and maintenance workers will receive the $1 per hour wage increase they negotiated for the 2022-2023 school year retroactive to September 1, 2022.
"The custodians and maintenance workers' bargaining committee negotiated the best deal we possibly could and we're pleased our coworkers agreed," said Karen Hall, a high school custodian who is the president of CUPE Local 1939.
"Now my coworkers and I will finally get the $1 per hour wage increase we had to go on strike and fight the Ford government for last fall," Hall noted.
"It's frontline workers who are fighting for student success and good jobs while the Conservative provincial government underfunds schools and attacks school boards with Bill 98," concluded Hall. "We will continue our efforts to make sure enough staff are there to provide the support students need and the services parents expect in your public schools."
