Tentative public service agreement reached with provincial government
30 Mar '10
After three months of public service bargaining, we reached a tentative agreement with the provincial government on the weekend.
This was one of the toughest rounds of bargaining I've ever been in. The government said there would be no wage increase and any improvements to the agreement had to come from savings in the current agreement. And, most importantly, members made it clear employment security was the number one issue.
As much as we disagreed with the government's wage policy, we made it clear that we wouldn't sign an agreement unless we got an employment security package that members could agree to. It was the last item we had to deal with and I'm pleased we were able to accomplish that goal.
Despite the difficult bargaining environment, we were also able to accomplish some other improvements such as improved benefits, language around bullying and changes for auxiliaries.
Members will be getting a complete information package soon and I urge you to read it.
I'm also urging you to vote to accept the deal.
You can read more about the tentative agreement by clicking here.
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Bullying in the workplace
I would sure like to know what the Union intends to do about bullying by a supervisor to a subordinate and how does one know, if one is the bullied, that anything is going to be done about such a situation? Will the steward keep the bullied employee informed, or is everything kept secret, like in a super-dysfunctional family?
Bullying in the Workplace
I agree and wonder if there may be many other employees out there that have been, or are currently being bullied and perhaps too afraid to come forward from the lack of confidence in union representation.
Or do you think that a union rep may be too intimated to confront the supervisor and therefore tries to dismiss, or downplay an employee's report, so as not to have to deal with it?
loss of benefits
I am saddened at the decreas in our benefit package. I refer to the cap put on massage therapy. In this day and age of over functioning, I know that many people utilize this benefit as a way to continue to function at work as best they can. I personnally will be spending an great deal now just so that I can continue to attend work and manage the headaches and neck pains due to the stress and the computer usage. I have everything set up ergonomically etc however, I have a hard job. This coupled with no wage increase will be a hardship for me and MANY of my collegues. THis is also the only extended benefit that I use and it is very dishartening that it has been slashed. The other things that are viewed as an improvement may be for some however, for most of my collegues the most important benefit has now been negatively impacted. I can only guess that the employer was aware of the extensive usage (in my office alone 3 people attend for weekly or bi-weekly massages)of this benefit which is why they sought to cap it... I hope that the bargaining unit was also aware of the usage and if so, I would like to understand why such an important befefit was given up.
thank you
Please explain to us......
I see the BCGEU has negotiated raises for all others lately, and I see now a $500 signing bonus, 2%, 3% and 3% for Maximus BCGEU members. However, the public service gets nothing not even COLA or full paid sick days or any kind of crumb. Are we responsible for the entire provinces economic situation? We have been working harder than ever to do more with less.....we deserved to be treated with respect.
Vote NO
Vote NO for this deal!
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