Strong Support for New Contract

DATE: December 22, 2011

Winnipeg—Educational assistants (EAs) employed by Hanover School Division (HSD) and represented by CLAC voted ninety-four percent in favour of a new collective agreement.

The four year contract includes a wage settlement that provides retroactive increases of 1.5 percent on September 1, 2010 and March 1, 2011, as well as increases of two percent on September 1, 2011, 2012, and 2013. The agreement, which expires August 31, 2014, also includes changes to leaves of absence and professional development.

 “I’m really happy with the new agreement,” says Lois Wieler, a member of the negotiating committee. “It’s a fair agreement in difficult times and helps us keep up with a rising cost of living while addressing a couple of other important items too. Negotiating is an important process for our group and I was glad to have CLAC working with us professionally throughout.”

This is the third agreement negotiated between CLAC and HSD for educational assistants and comes at a difficult time for bargaining given that many publically funded employee groups have settled for wage freezes over the last two years. CLAC also represents custodial staff at HSD, as well as many of the construction workers currently building HSD’s new Clearspring Middle School.