New four-year contracts have been signed by two employee groups in the Garden Valley School Division (GVSD).
The division's librarians and school administrative assistants have ratified new deals that include year-over-year percentage wage adjustments in line with other public-sector agreements.
In addition, special adjustments to boost wages will take effect July 1, 2024.
The employees are represented by Education, Service, and Healthcare Union, CLAC Local 306.
CLACs, Geoff Dueck Thiessen said both of these new agreements are in many ways similar to the agreement reached for educational assistants in December 2023, He added the contracts draw attention to the crucial, often behind-the-scenes work done by these administrative professionals.
"Collective agreement renewals are a good time to be reminded of how it takes many invested, intelligent, capable people to deliver education," said Dueck-Thiessen. "Our members put much more passion and energy into student learning than most would realize. And while this agreement is a decent one, I believe we continue to undervalue the contributions these folks are making. This is a good opportunity to remind the public, the taxpayer, that investing in these kinds of jobs does bring a good return and needs adequate funding."
Library technicians and school administrative assistants employed by GVSD have been represented by CLAC Local 306 since 2005.