Your bargaining committee met with the Employer for four days from October 30th through November 2nd. Agreement was quickly reached on most of the non-monetary proposals. The only non-monetary proposal outstanding is the Employer's proposal to delete the contracting out language from your collective agreement. If the Union was to agree to this deletion it would remove a key element of your employment security and allow the Employer to contract out your work at any time even if you were laid off as a result.

The Union tabled our monetary package late on Tuesday afternoon. The package included proposals on the issues you identified as priorities for this round of bargaining.

The Employer's response on Wednesday afternoon was underwhelming. Their offer included adding a float day to your paid holidays, increasing vacation in the 10th year of service to 20 days (which would see only three members reaching the 20 days by the time the agreement expired), and wage increases of 0.75% a year for all employees for a 3 year renewal agreement.

The parties informally explored possible settlements and what a renewal agreement would need to include, but no further proposals were tabled by either party. Discussions broke off and the Union is exploring our options going forward. Your bargaining committee members will be reaching out to you to get your feedback over the next week. 

If you have not signed a union membership card, please contact one of the bargaining committee members to sign one. If you have moved and not updated your contact information with the union, or have changed or not provided the union with your home email address we encourage you to log onto the BCGEU website at https://my.bcgeu.ca/login and do so as soon as possible. This will ensure that you receive future bulletins as soon as they are produced.

To edit your personal contact information:

1. Go to https://my.bcgeu.ca/login and log in. 
2. In the upper left of your screen you will see a box with your name at the top. Click on "edit".
3. Enter the correct information and click "save"

The union will continue in our efforts to achieve a fair and acceptable renewal collective agreement on your behalf. Options open to us include taking a strike vote and/or applying to the Labour Relations Board for the assistance of a Mediator.

WATCH FOR ANOTHER BULLETIN OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

LETTING YOU KNOW WHAT NEXT STEPS WE WILL BE TAKING!

 In solidarity

Deb Wilson                                     
Staff Representative                        

Maria Ignacio
Bargaining Committee Chairperson

Kulwant Rai                                      
Bargaining Committee Member           

Freddie Abrenica
Bargaining Committee Member

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