Bargaining highlights:

• BCGEU members working in support services at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) have ratified their agreement.
• Members at Douglas College have a tentative agreement and are conducting their ratification vote.
• Bargaining is underway for the remaining five units; and all will receive retroactive wage increases, with wage protection adjustments, once agreements are ratified. Details below.

Important: If you haven't already done so, please provide our union with your personal contact information in the BCGEU Member Portal. This will help ensure you receive a ballot at ratification voting time.

 
Negotiation and ratification status by bargaining unit: 
Reminder: Members will now vote to ratify as soon as each local agreement is reached.

• BC Institute of Technology: Bargaining occurred over five days in January, February and March and will continue April 17-18, May 30, June 5-6 and 12. Both parties have made a significant number of proposals which have been bundled and assigned to sub-committees.
• Coast Mountain College: Bargaining occurred January 16-20, and will continue May 24-26 with focus on monetary proposals.
• Douglas College: Tentative agreement reached December 16, 2022; ratification vote is set for April 13-20 with member meetings on April 12.
• Justice Institute of BC: COMPLETE – Agreement ratified on March 22.
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Bargaining occurred for seven days in January and February and will continue June 6 and June 8. Nearly all non-monetary items have been tabled.
• Northern Lights College: Bargaining occurred February 6-10, and will continue April 17-18. All proposals have now been exchanged and we await the employer's response to our package offer.
• Okanagan College: Bargaining occurred March 16-17, and will continue around the end of May (dates TBD). Both parties have tabled their full packages and will bargain monetary proposals next.

Our bargaining committee – the College and Institute Support Service Bargaining Association (CISSBA) – will be meeting June 21-23, to coordinate across all units, share ideas and strategize on common issues. 

Frequently Asked Questions: 
Q: My local table has reached a tentative agreement. When will I receive details about the settlement and information about where/how to vote?
A: When your local table reaches a tentative agreement, our union will distribute details about the settlement and information about voting by email.
 
Q: What information does my union need for me to vote on my local and common tentative agreements?
A: To participate in a ratification vote of your tentative agreements, you must provide our union with an email address – ideally, your personal email address. Please verify your email address is in our files by logging in to the BCGEU Member Portal here.
 
Q: Why does bargaining take so long?
A: Each institution operates differently, so we have local agreements that address issues specific to your institution. Many of these issues are significant and important, so they may take some time to try and resolve. Furthermore, member and employer representatives charged with negotiations at each bargaining table are often charged with negotiations at multiple tables and, as you can imagine, scheduling becomes challenging.
 
Q: When will wage increases take affect?
A: Although a compensation package (under the 2022 PSEC Shared Recovery mandate that has been ratified in a number of other sectoral agreements – click here for details) has been settled in the tentative common agreement, no wage increases will take effect until both the local and common agreements are ratified. When that happens, wage increases will be retroactively applied back to July 1, 2022.
 
Q: The public service recently received a wage-protection adjustment, as per their collective agreement, based on inflation figures for February 2023 and the B.C. Consumer Price Index (CPI) 12-month average increase. Will I receive this wage protection/adjustment as well?
A: Once your local and common agreement are ratified, you will be eligible for the same adjustment as public service workers received, including the additional 1.25% increase on July 1, 2023, for a total wage increase of 6.75%.
 
Important: We need your personal contact info!
 
As bargaining proceeds, we will need to distribute more information to you that may not be appropriate to send through your employer-provided email address – like your ratification voting ballot! Please ensure that we have your personal contact information by logging in to the BCGEU Member Portal here before your local table bargaining begins. Please encourage your coworkers to do the same.
 
In solidarity,

Your College and Institute Support Service Bargaining Association (CISSBA)

UWU/MoveUP