Custodial staff at the Seine River School Division (SRSD) voted to end their 15-day strike late in the afternoon on February 27 after a wage increase settlement was finally reached between the negotiating parties.
According to Kyle Ross, president of MGEU, the union representing the custodial workers, the new deal was reached through the help of a conciliator.
The ratified deal will mean a 20.7 percent increase for class one (senior) caretakers and 16.5 percent for class two caretakers over a four-year period. The increase will be retroactive to the time that the last bargaining period ended in July 2021.
For a class one worker, this increase will bump them from their current wage of $20.68 per hour to $25.57 by June of this year. Class two workers will go from $19.46 per hour to $23.78 by June.
Other improvements to the new deal include increases in overtime and callout provisions, long-service allowance, and family-related leave.
It’s a far cry from the division’s original offer made to workers in December 2023, which would have provided a 9.8 percent increase overall. In dollars, this equates to an approximate $2 per hour increase stretched over four years.
In January, as the two bargaining sides returned to the table, the division held firm on their previous offer. For this reason, Ross says, the workers saw no other recourse but to strike.
While the new deal sounds like a significant improvement, Ross adds that it’s all a matter of perspective.
“You have to factor in that the workers got 0.751 percent in the previous contract, so they got only 35 cents [increase] over the past six years,” Ross says. “So when you’re asking for wages that somewhat keep up with inflation, there has to be some substantial numbers put forward.”
In terms of the level of buy-in by workers at yesterday’s vote, Ross is unable to provide those figures. Overall, he says, the workers are just happy to ratify a deal and get back to work, especially in light of the difficult financial times currently faced by the division.
“It’s unfortunate that we had to [strike],” Ross says. “We could have just bargained this at the table if they’d taken us seriously right off the bat. I’m hoping in the next round of bargaining we can get something done at the table that’s fair for both sides.”
Meanwhile, SRSD trustees put forward a motion to ratify the new deal at their February 27 public meeting.
While it passed with a majority vote, trustee Marinus Van Osch was vocally opposed to the new deal.
“The reality is that the board discussed this months ago and said that this is the final position that we have, based on our financial circumstances,” Van Osch said. “We’re looking at up to a $4.5 million deficit this year. We put a final position forward and I think we should stand by that final position. I oppose any final dollars being put forward.”
SRSD custodial workers will be back on the job on February 29.
