School board CUPE staff take wage freeze to avoid possible layoffs
By Medicine Hat News on March 7, 2020.
Custodians at both Medicine Hat school boards, as well as educational assistants and clerical workers at the public division, have entered a renewed four-year contract that includes no pay increases. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 829 represents custodians at the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education, Medicine Hat Public School Division, as well as educational assistants and clerical staff at MHPSD. Most recently, they reached an agreement for their 20 MHCBE staff on Nov. 24. Prior to that, they reached the same agreement for their 320 MHPSD staff in September. The local also represents custodial staff at the Prairie Rose School Division’s Redcliff schools, for which negotiations are coming up in the next few months. Local 829 president Sharon Stolz told the News her membership took zeros to reduce the likelihood of layoffs throughout the new contract’s duration. “We didn’t go in asking for a whole lot. Because of the way it is, we’re happy to keep jobs at this point,” said Stolz. Part of this decision had to do with a fear of “rollbacks” by the UCP government, she added. “That’s what we’re up against in the education system right now,” Stolz said. “We wanted to keep things as they were.” 9-8
