We are pleased to present a tentative agreement that will include wage lifts on the date of ratification, Employer matched RRSPs, increase to the night-shift premium, and a lump sum signing bonus.

We encourage you to vote “yes” and accept this new collective agreement!

Ratification Document

The ratification can be found here.  When you vote, you will be voting to accept all of the changes in the entire document. New language that would be added to the collective agreement is in bold, underlined, and yellow highlight like this. Language that would be deleted from the collective agreement is struck through, like this.

The ratification document contains many important changes, and we will outline the highlights in the meeting, as well as answering any questions you may have about the changes. We strongly encourage you to read the entire document in advance so you can ask questions at the meeting and be prepared to vote on ratifying the new collective agreement.

Tentative Agreement Highlights

• Length of agreement: The agreement will cover five years from Jan 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2024.
• Wage increases: As of the date of ratification, the Employer will increase wages with a one-time market adjustment of $0.62 for MSWs (servers) and $1.71 for Cooks. You will also receive a 1.5% increase, so the new wages will be $16.35 per hour for MSWs and $21.00 per hour for Cooks.

You will receive general wage increases of 1.5% on April 1, 2022, and 2% on April 1, 2023 and April 1, 2024.

• Signing bonus: For employees as of the date of ratification, full-time employees will receive $700, part-time employees will receive $350, and casual employees will receive $175.
• RRSP Program: The Employer will open the Employer matched RRSP program, so employees can choose to have up to 3% of their gross wages put into RRSPs, and the Employer will match those contributions.
• Night shift premium: The night shift premium will increase to $0.50/hour, up from $0.25/hour.
• Improved health and safety language: More WorkSafeBC regulations will be included in your collective agreement, especially concerning aggressive residents and traumatic incidents at work. Your right to access critical incident counselling and other supports through WorkSafeBC, and your right to request a review of circumstances are clearly laid out in your collective agreement.

The new health and safety language also includes how accidents at work are investigated, and how the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee should operate. This includes that Committee members should perform their duties at straight-time pay, even when they are scheduled off work.

• Improvements for casual employees: Casual employees will now be eligible for benefits if they meet the eligibility requirement (working at least 20 hours a week over 13 weeks).

Casual employees can now receive a text message with shift details for call-outs.

• Updates from the Employment Standards Act: Your collective agreement will now reflect important updates from the Employment Standards Act such as:
  • Compassionate care leave: up to 27 weeks of leave
  • Pregnancy/parental leave: up to 17 weeks pregnancy leave, and up to 62 weeks for parental leave
  • Domestic violence leave: up to 5 days paid leave, 5 days unpaid leave, and 15 weeks unpaid leave per year
• Harassment and bullying: Improvements to harassment definitions, and alignment with Compass Canada policy.
• Inclusive language: The new collective agreement will have gender neutral language.

Please keep in mind that this is only a summary of the changes to the collective agreement. Please read the full ratification document before you vote.

Ratification Information Meeting Details

Date:     Thursday, May 6
Time:    Drop in between 2pm – 4pm
Ratification highlights will be explained at 2pm and 3pm, and members can ask questions at any time. 
How:     Check your email or email [email protected] or [email protected] for meeting participation details.

Voting Information and Union Successorship

Voting will open at the end of the ratification meeting. You will receive an email with a link to vote online and your unique voting credentials. Voting will open on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 4pm and close on Thursday, May 13 at 5pm. We strongly encourage you to vote, as this is the only method for casting a ballot.

Please note you will be asked to vote on two questions: ratifying the collective agreement and choosing BCGEU as your sole Union. Currently, you are unionized with the Advocare Bargaining Association (“the Association”), even though your membership is with BCGEU. The Association is a polypary union composed of the BCGEU and the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU).

When your employer was AdvoCare, HEU also had members in Nelson, BC at Mountain Lakes Retirement Residence as part of your bargaining unit. However, now that Compass Canada has taken over as your employer, you will need to vote to have membership only with BCGEU.

The Association recommends replacing the Association with just the BCGEU as your sole representative for collective bargaining with your new employer, Compass Canada. We are asking you to choose whether to accept that recommendation or not.

To be clear, the choice is between the Association and the BCGEU. This is not a vote on decertifying from the Association or the BCGEU.

A member who does not receive a voting credential (likely because BCGEU does not have their personal email address), or who experiences problems casting their vote, should contact [email protected], or Sheila Matthen (Staff Representative) by calling 604-291-9611 or 1-800-663-1674 ASAP after voting opens, but no later than Thursday, May 13 at 12pm. This will allow enough time to issue a voting credential that day before voting closes. Please note that phone support is available during regular BCGEU office hours from 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Please log into the Member’s Portal here to ensure BCGEU has your correct email address for voting credentials to be emailed to you.

Ratification results will be announced on Friday, May 14.

We strongly encourage you to vote to accept and ratify your new collective agreement, and to keep BCGEU representing you as your sole Union.

In solidarity, 

Deb Wagner, Chairperson, Local 407
Sheila Matthen, Staff Representative – Negotiations

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP