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Aster Joint Venture Limited Partnership dba AgeCare - Tentative Agreement Reached for AgeCare - BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)


We are pleased to report that your BCGEU bargaining committee and AgeCare reached a tentative settlement of a renewed collective agreement today. This agreement contains major gains for members-all because of your strength and solidarity!
Tentative Agreement Highlights

Highlights of the agreement include:

  • Term ending December 31, 2023, unless the government ends wage levelling. If the government ends wage levelling before that date, the agreement expires when wage levelling ends and the parties promptly start new negotiations over wages. (To be clear, government has repeatedly promised that wage levelling will be made permanent, so we do not expect wage levelling to end.)
  • Signing bonus of 3.4% of regular earnings from August 1, 2021 to June 4, 2022
  • New voluntary group RRSP, with up to 3% matching contributions depending on length of service
  • New orientation premium of $1.25 per hour when orienting a new employee
  • New - annual professional registration fees paid for regular nurses: RNs & RPNs - $200/year | LPNs $150/year
  • New 'wellness day' - one day per year of paid discretionary leave
     
  • Change from Paid Time Off (PTO) to separate vacation, paid holiday and sick leave categories for regular employees - with entitlement improvements
    - PTO was a messy combination of three categories of leave that totaled
    approximately 32 days per year, with no increases based on years of service
    - New language amounts to an increase of 10 days in total available paid
    leave, now restructured as follows:
    - Sick leave – 10 days
    - Paid holidays – 12 days
    - Annual vacation – 10 days in first 3 years | 15 days in years 4 to 7 | 20 days in year 8 and beyond
     
  • Shift premiums
    - Afternoon premium increased from $0.50/hour to $1.00/hour
    - Night premium increased from $0.50/hour to $1.25/hour
    - New weekend premium of $1.25/hour
    - Premiums are stackable
     
  • Health and welfare benefit plan improvements
    - Paramedical annual combined max increased from $1,000 to $1,500
    - Paramedical max per practitioner type increased from $500 to $600
    - Annual eye exam amount increased from $70 to $100
    - Glasses/lenses amount increased from $150 to $250 every 24 months
    - Prescription drug dispensing fee coverage increased from $7.50 to $10
    - Major dental coverage increased from 50% to 70%, and combined annual dental max increased from $1,500 to $2,000
    - New - benefits (excluding LTD) continue at employer's expense for duration of leave for WCB-compensable injury
    - Existing benefit levels enshrined as minimum
     
  • Increased percentage paid to casual employees in lieu of vacation - had been 4% in lieu of PTO, and is now 4% in first 3 years, 6% in years 4 to 7 and 8% in year 8 and beyond
  • Casuals covered by paid holiday language
  • Employer to cover cost of criminal record checks for existing employees
  • Nurses get recognition of prior service for placement on wage grid step upon hire
  • Daily and weekly overtime for part-time regular and casual employees now clearly applies after 7.5 hours daily or 37.5 hours weekly (unless covering an extended-hour shift for more than seven calendar days, in which case extended-hour shift OT provisions apply)
  • Significant non-monetary improvements, clarification of language, etc.

Ratification Process

You can expect to hear from us again soon-and no later than sometime early next week-with more information about the ratification process. Ratification is where bargaining unit members vote on whether to accept the tentative agreement. Your bargaining committee strongly and unanimously encourages you to vote "yes" to ratify!

Before you vote, you will have a chance to review the entire settlement package. We will hold ratification information meetings where we will go over the highlights of the settlement and answer any questions you might have.

Again, you can expect to hear from us soon with more information on the ratification information meetings and the ratification vote.
We look forward to meeting with you soon to share more details of our big gains in bargaining!

In solidarity,

Tina Campbell, Bargaining Committee Chair
Heather de Lange, Bargaining Committee Member
Colleen Sarrazin, Bargaining Committee Member
Ryan Stewart, Staff Representative, Negotiations

Download PDF of notice here 



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