Friends,

Thank you for attending the June 19, 2025, member meeting. This bulletin is in follow-up to our conversation.

Bargaining Survey

We met for three days on June 17, 18 and 19 to start the process of developing proposals to put to the Employer when we meet to negotiate the renewal of our 2022-2025 Collective Agreement. Your input is crucial to that process. As we move forward, we will be seeking member feedback to identify your key priorities, starting with a bargaining survey that will be distributed soon.

The survey will be an opportunity for you to identify any issues, concerns, or improvements you would like to bring forward for consideration in negotiations and will assist us in setting our bargaining priorities. Whether you are a new or existing union member, it is important to voice your opinions and ideas so we can work together and support improvements in our careers and workplace. Your responses will remain confidential. If you have any questions, please reach out to one of us.

The Mandate

You have likely heard reference to a bargaining mandate. The bargaining mandate outlines the broad terms for collective bargaining across the broad public sector. It is established by the Provincial Government through the Public Sector Employers' Council (PSEC) and applies to all public sector employers with unionized employees. All crown corporations like BC Energy Regulator fall under the mandate.

While we will be negotiating our own agreement with our Employer, because we fall under the PSEC mandate some key agreement terms like the length of the collective agreement and the wage package will reflect those that will be negotiated by the broader Public Service (PSA) bargaining unit. This means that we will typically not negotiate general wage increases other than how to allocate any specified discretionary funds provided under the mandate.

Although the public service table has met, the Public Service Agency (PSA) and BCGEU are far apart. The PSA's opening proposal on wages won't keep up with projected inflation; 3.5% over two years. The Union is clear that it does not meet members' priorities and will table a counter proposal. However, these are the opening stages with much work that still needs to be done.

We will not be able to negotiate the renewal of your Collective Agreement until the mandate has been established.  Until that process has concluded, we will continue with our preparations for negotiating the renewal of your collective agreement to ensure that we are ready to head to the table as soon as we are able.

The link below is to the Union's public service bargaining hub:

https://www.bcgeu.ca/public_service

Bargaining Process

Attached to this bulletin is a summary of the bargaining process.

If you know a BCGEU member who didn't receive this bulletin, please forward it to them. If you are a BCGEU member who didn't receive the bulletin directly, please update your email address with your Union by logging into the BCGEU member portal at https://my.bcgeu.ca/signup.

In solidarity,

Erin Hall, Chairperson, Bargaining Committee
Phil Sparrow, Member, Bargaining Committee
Katelyn White, Member, Bargaining Committee
Zoe Towle, Spokesperson, Negotiations Staff Rep

Download PDF of bulletin here

UWU/MoveUP