CUPE Local 476 is an organized group of workers who have entered into a Collective Agreement with the Board of Education for School District #47. CUPE 476 members work in a variety of roles and sites throughout SD#47 operations.
CUPE 476 members live and work in the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples from the Treaty lands of the Tla’amin Nation (qathet Regional District (qRD) and City of Powell River) along with the traditional territories of the K’ómoks First Nation and the Xwe’malhkwu (Homalco) on Vancouver Island as well as the Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish Nation including Bowen Island).
We are the Bus Drivers, Clerical (Accounting, Secretarial etc.), Custodians, ECE/Strong Start, Educational Assistants, IT, Technical, Office Managers, Tradespeople, and other staff keeping BC public schools and their programs operating, clean, safe, and inclusive. Our local union received its charter from CUPE National in the early 1950’s and are affiliated with both CUPE National and CUPE British Columbia. CUPE476 is part of the more than 26,000 education workers in B.C.’s public schools supported by the K-12 Presidents’ Council.
Through union membership, workers come together to make decisions about the conditions of their work (wages, work hours, benefits, workplace health and safety, and other work-related and social issues). Currently our membership exceeds 200, with some members who have worked 30 years as well as those who have only begun working weekly on a casual call-out basis.
CUPE 476 shares an office with the BCTF’s qathet Teachers Association (qTA). You can request a meeting by calling the office number and leaving a message or emailing. The president is available Monday-Friday. We welcome you and any questions you may have, whether they are about our local union CUPE476; the Collective Agreement with SD#47 and the Province of BC; your rights and responsibilities as a worker and anything else that comes to mind.