Update on tentative agreement ratification: Members will now vote to ratify as soon as each local agreement is reached.

Douglas College and Justice Institute of B.C. will conduct ratification voting soon; five other units are currently bargaining or will begin soon. Details below.

An important note: 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.

In September, the first-ever tentative common agreement with the Post-Secondary Employers' Association (PSEA), covering BCGEU members working in support services at seven post-secondary employers, was established.

Chairs of the seven units had planned to ratify the common agreement once all seven units had reached their respective tentative agreements and to coordinate the timing of these ratification votes.

However, due to scheduling challenges and the volume of important local issues needing to be addressed, your College and Institute Support Service Bargaining Association (CISSBA) and the PSEA have decided to change this plan.

Now, ratification voting will take place as each table reaches a tentative local agreement. BCGEU members at each local unit will vote to ratify their new collective agreement (their respective tentative local agreement and the tentative common agreement together) in a single ratification vote.

This means that all changes will take effect immediately upon ratification, except where otherwise indicated.

This change will ensure members receive improvements outlined in their tentative agreements as soon as possible while also keeping the work going.

Negotiation and ratification status

At this time, two of the seven units have reached tentative local agreements and will soon begin their ratification voting. The five other units are currently bargaining or will begin soon.

• BC Institute of Technology: Bargaining occurred January 25 and 27, 2023, and will resume February 27-March 3, 2023.
• Coast Mountain College: Bargaining occurred January 16-20, 2023; additional bargaining dates TBD.
• Douglas College: Tentative agreement reached December 16, 2022; ratification voting dates TBD.
• Justice Institute of BC: Tentative agreement reached January 14, 2023; ratification voting dates TBD.
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Bargaining occurred January 10-11, January 13, and February 1-3, 2023; additional bargaining dates TBD.
• Northern Lights College: Bargaining dates set for February 6-10, 2023.
• Okanagan College: Bargaining dates set for March 16-17, 2023.

We (CISSBA) will be meeting April 24-26, 2023, to continue coordinating 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 within a few weeks via email details about the settlement as well as information about voting.

Q: What information does my union need from me 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: Local tables bargain 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) has been settled in the tentative common agreement, no wage increases will take effect until the agreements (local and common as part of a single ballot) are ratified. When that happens, wage increases will be retroactively applied back to July 1, 2022.

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