LATEST BARGAINING NEWS
On June 26, 2025, members of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD) Educational Support – Local 460 ratified a new four-year collective agreement (effective July 2, 2024 – June 30, 2028).
The new agreement includes significant wage increases, with an average increase for most members of between 18% to 21% over the life of the agreement. The wage increases include general wage increases and market adjustments for all classifications.
The agreement also includes the addition of two family leave days, an increase to discretionary leave days, an increase for vacation accrual rates, and members will now receive the long service leave at 20 years instead of 25 years' service.
The next step in concluding the collective agreement is to work with the Division to finalize and sign-off the document, which could take some time.
Background on this bargaining table
Members of WSD Educational Support - Local 460 had an opportunity to put forward their ideas and proposals for improving their collective agreement last year.
The Bargaining Committee and Local 460 Members-at-Large spent time going through these proposals in March 2024 and continued to meet, working to pull them together into a bargaining package to present to the employer.
In late October 2024, your bargaining committee met to finalize the proposal package.
Bargaining began in December 2024 and resumed in February 2025, continuing through spring.
In mid-May, discussions at the bargaining table shifted from non-monetary to monetary items (including wages and benefits).
The employer’s current wage offer fell far short of what is needed to catch up and keep up with the rising cost of living and with other school divisions in Winnipeg.
Therefore, the bargaining committee decided to call a strike vote. If a majority of members vote ‘yes’ on the strike vote, it would provide the bargaining committee with a strike mandate. A strike mandate does not necessarily mean the Local is going on strike but it provides the committee with the authority to call a strike, if necessary, to get a fair contract.
Two member information meetings (one online at 6pm on June 16 and one in-person from 4-8pm on June 17), were held to provide members with a bargaining update, provide details about what a strike mandate would mean for the Local and allow members to ask questions before they vote.
On June 18, 2025 members of Local 460 voted overwhelmingly in favour of providing their bargaining committee with a strike mandate.
The bargaining committee's next steps were to reach out to the Employer to ask for additional bargaining dates as well as continue to negotiate an essential services agreement.
On June 20, 2025 a tentative agreement was reached between the Local 460 bargaining committee and the employer.
The bargaining committee recommended acceptance of the agreement as they believed it allowed members to catch up and keep up with the rising cost of living and with other educational support workers in Winnipeg.
The online vote took place Wednesday, June 25 at 6:30 pm to Thursday, June 26 at 8:00 pm.
There were two information sessions for members to learn more and ask questions.