Prior to the last round of Master Bargaining the BCGEU Component 1 executive and B.C. Corrections formed a joint union/management committee to look at increasing the work week hours from the current 35 hours to 37.5, 40 or somewhere in between.

At bargaining a letter was agreed to between the parties to continue with the committee. The work of this committee is ongoing and we are listening to our members who want this change as a way to increase income. A major difference between B.C. Corrections and the federal corrections earnings is the number of hours in the work week. A 40 hour work week works out to a 14% earnings increase which would move us to within 93 per cent of the federal corrections annual earnings.

The committee will soon have some examples of 12-hour shift patterns but we would be seeking input from the membership prior to moving forward on this.

In 2011 BCGEU Component 1 shop stewards and local executive members filed et al classification appeals at VIRCC for Corrections, and shop stewards in the lower mainland filed similar appeals for Sheriffs. The most recent classification appeals launched on behalf of Corrections and Sheriffs is one of a number the union has filed under Article 28 of the Master Agreement.

In 2012 the BCGEU attempted to resolve these appeals to our satisfaction at the bargaining table, but the employer was unwilling to negotiate classification appeals into the settlement, like previous rounds of negotiations.

The BCGEU classifications department, along with Component 1 executive members and BCGEU Sheriffs shop stewards are in the process of rewriting both the Corrections and Sheriffs bench marks. These are the classification specific detailed descriptions of each job and how they correspond directly to the Public Service Job Evaluation Plan. Meetings have taken place and are continuing over the coming weeks.

I will continue to keep you updated as both of these BCGEU Component 1 initiatives move along.

Click here for a PDF of this bulletin that you can print and post at your workplace.

In solidarity,

Dean Purdy
Component 1 Chair
Corrections & Sheriff Services
BCGEU