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FYI – Overnight Field Trip LOU

For those to whom it would be useful:

We have a Letter of Understanding with the school district that governs overnight field trips. These are the standards it lays out:

  • If it has been determined necessary for a CUPE employee to go on an overnight trip, the opportunity should be offered to employees in order of seniority, first only to CUPE employees on site, and if all of them turn it down, to all CUPE employees.
  • While on the trip, the worker will earn their normal wage for their current job classification. They will be paid for a minimum of 14 hours per day with no overtime.
  • If an emergency requires the employee to work more than 14 hours per day, they will be paid time-and-a-half for any additional hours.

Provincial bargaining begins April 14

After months of training, research, consultations and discussions, the K-12 provincial bargaining committee is ready to head to the table. Today, the K-12 Presidents Council gave its overwhelming endorsement to the bargaining committee’s proposals and priorities for a new provincial framework agreement.

Guided by the results of the provincial bargaining survey, the top bargaining priorities will be:

  • Fair wages that recognize the value of B.C.’s over 30,000 school support workers.
  • Increased hours of work available to school support workers so they can make enough to live in the communities they serve.
  • Securing public child care in our public schools.
  • Addressing the rising violence against school support workers in their workplaces.

Bargaining for the next Provincial Framework Agreement will begin April 14, 2025, with a 3-day meeting between the K-12 provincial bargaining committee and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. Additional bargaining dates have been scheduled in May and June. Collective agreements for K-12 sector locals in B.C. expire on June 30, 2025.

The bargaining committee will be sending out regular bulletins as negotiations progress. Watch for them at bcschools.cupe.ca, directly from your local, and on Facebook @cupek12bc.

Learn more about the bargaining process for K-12 school support locals in B.C.