Negotiation status

On October 26, 2022, after three days of negotiations in Vancouver, we reached a tentative agreement with the Post-Secondary Employers' Association (PSEA) and representatives from five of our employers: Camosun College, Coast Mountain College, Northern Lights College, Okanagan College, and Selkirk College.

A BCGEU representative from Vancouver Island University (VIU) was present at these negotiations, however, the common agreement will not cover members at this institution at this time because the employer did not participate. We hope to continue our discussions with VIU about joining the common table. For now, both VIU and BCIT Instructors will continue to bargain independently.

For more information about the bargaining process so far, read our October 24 bulletin.

Highlights of the tentative agreement

• the Shared Recovery Negotiating Mandate (as set by the B.C. government via the Public Sector Employers' Association (PSEC) plus Flexibility Allowance (an additional 0.25 per cent of total compensation base) to be determined at the local level how they want to spend it; 
• the agreement is retroactive to April 1, 2022. We were successful in eliminating the language where increases were effective the first pay period, which was an up to two-week delay, in receiving the wage increase and also potential cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) money;
• improvements to the extended health plan (both hearing aide and paramedical reimbursements); plus, expanded mental health resources to include social workers and registered counsellors;
• meals for attendants (when you need someone to travel with you) are now included in the Medical Travel Insurance;
• Cultural leave for Indigenous workers;
• the LOU on Distributed Learning and Workload has been referred to Joint Labour-Management Committees (local) as a standing item for discussion to support future bargaining; the unused money from this budget will be re-distributed to local tables to determine how they want to spend it; and
• Harassment and Discrimination language maintained; we aim to address further at local tables.

Once ratified, the agreement will cover BCGEU members working as instructors at the following five post-secondary institutions:

• Coast Mountain College
• Northern Lights College
• Okanagan College
• Camosun College
• Selkirk College

Next steps

The common agreement will proceed to ratification once each of the five local tables have completed their local bargaining processes. Full details of the common agreement will be kept confidential until the bargaining process is complete.

Dates are now being scheduled for local table bargaining. We will notify you as soon as they are confirmed.

A couple other important notes:

• Local tables bargain local agreements that address issues specific to your institution.
• Neither a strike vote nor a ratification vote can be taken until bargaining is completed at both the Multi-Employer Table and each local table.

IMPORTANT: Do we have your personal contact info?

More work and information is still to come, and if we don't have your up-to-date personal email address and phone number, you could miss important updates.
We're asking all members to make sure your contact information is up to date in the BCGEU Member Portal before local bargaining begins.
CLICK HERE TO REVIEW/UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO IN MEMBER PORTAL

If you do not yet have a BCGEU Member Portal account, click here to request one. Then watch for an email with instructions to activate it.

And please check with your coworkers to ensure they are receiving our bulletins, and that they also have provided their personal contact information through the BCGEU Member Portal.
 
In solidarity,

Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) 

UWU/MoveUP