Dec. 18, 2014
PDF of Media Release
Backgrounder
CALGARY – The Board of Trustees has approved a measure that will impact the compensation of the CBE’s nearly 200 exempt employees in 2015.
Exempt employees will receive a 2.6 per cent raise as of January 1, 2015. They will also receive a new benefit of two paid personal days. Superintendents are not included in this measure.
Exempt employees are not represented by a bargaining unit, and make up less than two per cent of the CBE’s over 13,000 employees. They consist primarily of administrative support staff, professional staff, and front-line supervisors. A smaller portion of the group includes managers and directors. Exempt employees’ pay has been frozen since January 2013.
“These employees have seen their workload increase in recent years with no raises or inflationary increases,” said Board of Trustees chair Joy Bowen-Eyre. “As a system we strongly believe in fairness. We are asking more of all of our people. They are critical to student success, and we need them to feel supported. This is the right thing to do.”
The amount of the increase takes into account inflation from 2013 to 2015, current Calgary market compensation for comparable positions, as well as recent Calgary public sector collective agreements. The cost is covered within the 2014-15 budget and complies with the assumptions of that budget. Other employee groups have continued to receive pay increases in recent years through bargaining agreements, as have provincial counterparts.
After news that pay would remain frozen for 2014, administration formed an exempt employee advisory committee in order to explore issues in the employee group. A review of exempt employees’ compensation packages will take place in 2015.
Media Availability
Joy Bowen-Eyre, chair of the Board of Trustees, and Brad Grundy, chief financial officer, will be available this afternoon for interviews.
Date: Thursday, December 18, 2014
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Place: Education Centre, 1221 – 8th Street. S.W.
