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YORK, Ont. Members of local 2331 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have ratified a new collective agreement with the York Catholic District School Board. Monday, members of local 2331 voted 88% in favour of the proposed settlement, which was then ratified by the School Board on Tuesday.
Bernadette Kenny, President of CUPE local 2331, was glad that discussions finally led to an agreement: We wanted to achieve the objectives set by our membership, said Kenny. We were able to make some significant improvements, especially regarding benefits for employees, and base-line staffing. We feel these gains will improve the working conditions of our members and more important, contribute to improving the learning environment for the students.
Local 2331 is the first among 104 CUPE bargaining units to reach a settlement this fall that includes the terms of the Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) agreement. The PDT agreement was reached last May between CUPE and representatives of the publically funded school boards, with the help of facilitators from the Ministry of Education.
For Terri Preston, president of the Ontario School Board Coordinating Committee (OSBCC), representing over 45,000 school board workers across Ontario, this is the first step towards a broader province-wide agreement: What was achieved by members of local 2331 is very important to us, said Preston. We’re confident that this first ratification will set standards for the rest of the province and help other locals to reach collective agreement settlements. Our objective is to implement the PDT package in every CUPE collective agreement and assure our members some significant improvements over the next four years.
CUPE local 2331 represents more than 1000 workers with the York Catholic District School Board, ranging from education assistants, school support workers, secretarial, clerical, and technical staff.
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For information:
Bernadette Kenny, President, CUPE Local 2331:905-895-0501
Luc Tittley, CUPE Communications:416-910-2389
