Now that we've reached a tentative agreement with your employer, the ratification process begins. This is where you'll have your say. Ratification of a tentative agreement involves two steps: member education and voting. 
 
Member education
During the education process your bargaining committee will be working hard to make sure every member of the bargaining unit understands how the agreement will impact their working lives. We want to ensure that members have the information they need to make an informed decision. 
 
This will involve planning a series of member education sessions in your area - in person meetings and Zoom webinars-where members will be able to ask questions about their agreement. These member education sessions will be held in the coming weeks. Timing is being finalized and details of dates and times will follow. 
 
Provincial town hall meetings have been scheduled for Thursday, February 16 and Tuesday, February 21. These are open to all members across the province. Each date will have two meeting times: 12:00 pm and 6:30 pm.
Links and instructions on how to participate will be sent next week.

Highlights for Community Social Services collective agreement (including Community Living Services, General Services and Indigenous Services) will be available early next week, as will a comprehensive report. The comprehensive report will explain the full details of the tentative agreement and how those changes will impact you and your co-workers. In addition, you will have access to an online wage calculator and the full text of changes to the collective agreement. Keep an eye on your inbox.

Voting
Voting for your tentative agreement will be conducted electronically through an independent, secure, third-party, online voting platform called Simply Voting. You will receive your voting credentials by email as well by regular mail. 
 
Voting on the tentative agreement opens at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 13th and closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 27th.  

Check in with your coworkers: are they receiving these updates?

Do you have co-workers who aren't getting these emails? Please tell them to sign up for the BCGEU Member Portal as soon as possible and make sure their personal email address is on file so we can email them their voting credentials.
 
If you have any questions about the ratification process, email [email protected].
 
This is your agreement: your vote, your voice.
 
In solidarity,
Your Community Social Service Bargaining Committee

UWU/MoveUP

The Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) is pleased to announce a tentative agreement has been reached with the Community Social Services Employers Association (CSSEA). This includes agreements for workers in the Community Living Services, General Services and Indigenous Services sub-sectors.

The tentative agreement was negotiated with nine other unions who represent members in the agreement: CUPE, HEU, HSA, CSWU Local 1611, CLAC, USW 1-417, UFCW and BCNU.

Our union – which represents you and about 19,000 other members covered by this agreement – has been at the bargaining table since February 2022, working hard to bring forward the priorities you identified. These priorities include fair and equitable wages to address rising costs of living, meaningful recognition and rights for Indigenous workers and the ability to address your own health needs, including mental health supports.

The tentative agreement has a three-year term and includes the following highlights:

• Low-wage redress* increases, retroactive for all employees (past and present) to April 1, 2022
• $0.25/hour increase to all wage grids, retroactive for all employees (past and present) to April 1, 2022
• 3.24% increase to all wage grids, retroactive for all employees (past and present) to April 1, 2022
• At least a 5.5% general wage increase, effective the first pay period after April 1, 2023
• At least a 2% general wage increase, effective the first pay period after April 1, 2024
• Additional wage comparability increases for all classifications
• Increase to transportation allowance, effective date of ratification
• 100% paid sick leave, effective April 1, 2024
• Improvements to health and welfare benefits, leave provisions, safety and health, layoff and recall, bullying and harassment language.

In addition, the following are highlights on the gains achieved specifically for Indigenous Services:

• Wage parity for all classifications with Main Public Service collective agreement
• Retention incentive payment for all classifications
• Commitment to continue discussions on parity with Main Public Service agreement for recruitment and retention, compensatory recognition for cultural competency and further Indigenization of the collective agreement 

* Low-wage redress (LWR) refers to funds that are meant to help reduce long-term inequalities in compensation in both community social services and health care sectors.

Your bargaining committee unanimously supports the tentative agreement and is encouraging all members to vote in favour of ratification.
In the coming days, your bargaining committee will share full details of the tentative agreement. You will also receive invitations to upcoming information sessions and information on how and when you can vote.
Thank you for your patience and ongoing support of your bargaining committee through this difficult round of bargaining. We believe we have secured an agreement members will want to support. 

Member Portal In order to stay informed about important ratification information, we're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today.

Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It's more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email and phone number.

Please check with your coworkers to make sure they are also receiving these email updates and share this bulletin with them.

In solidarity,

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee

UWU/MoveUP

Negotiations between the nine-union Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) and the provincial Community Social Services Employers' Association (CSSEA) – which covers you and 17,000 other unionized workers in the sector – resumes today.

Bargaining dates are scheduled for this week and next, through to Friday, January 27 in Burnaby. Your bargaining committee remains committed to reaching a tentative agreement reflecting the priorities that you identified. These include a fair and equitable compensation package, meaningful recognition and reconciliation for Indigenous workers, supporting psychologically safer and healthier workplaces and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. 

In other news
You may have heard that the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) has reached a tentative agreement with the Health Employers Association of BC. The agreement, which covers 21,000 health care workers in eight unions, was reached earlier this week.

We look forward to getting back to the bargaining table to continue to push for a collective agreement that reflects the priorities that you identified. Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Member Portal
Please remind your coworkers to sign up to get important updates by email and ensure that your contact information is current. If you know a co-worker who is not getting these emails forward this to them and tell them to sign up here. If they aren't getting emails, we don't have their contact info.
 
It is vitally important that we have contact with members through personal email (not work email) to ensure members receive important information throughout the bargaining process.
 
We will continue to provide regular updates.

UWU/MoveUP

The nine-union Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) has not been back to the negotiations table since the last update that we shared with you in early November but we wanted to let you know what is happening with the negotiation of your new collective agreement in the Indigenous Services, General Services, and Community Living sub-sectors.

As you know, we have been hard at work for many months, negotiating with the representatives of the employers' association, and bringing forward the priorities that you identified. These priorities include fair and equitable wages to address rising costs, meaningful recognition of rights for Indigenous workers and your ability to address your own health needs, including mental health supports.

We have made progress at the table and have made many agreements on monetary and non-monetary priorities. However, at this point, we remain significantly far apart from the employers on a few key priorities in all three sub-sector community social services agreements. 

We are working towards true reconciliation which means that all Indigenous workers are respected, and their cultural needs are valued. Our work at the negotiations table is in line with a shared commitment to reconciliation, and we believe that this should be reflected in improvements in your collective agreement.

We will continue to fight for the best collective agreement that values you and the work that you bring to your workplace and to your community. We are working towards an agreement that not only puts more money in your pocket but enables you to take care of your health and have a safe workplace.

We are also working to address a systemic issue with our community social services sector: recruitment and retention. We are working hard to bring all of your priorities to the table and to make your work more supported and attractive to new workers in the sector. 

What comes next?

We had hoped to be able to schedule additional bargaining dates before the end of this calendar year, but due to scheduling challenges, that is not possible. We are now looking at bargaining dates in the New Year and we will keep you in the loop as we move forward.

In the meantime, it is critical that you keep your contact information up-to-date with your union stewards along with your workplace contacts so we can keep you informed as we move forward.

And please, share this bulletin with your co-workers to make sure that everyone in your workplace has a signed union card.

We thank you for all of your support!
In solidarity, 

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee:

Andrea Duncan, CSSBA Negotiating Committee Chair
Angela Reed, BCGEU
April Duffield, BCGEU
Brian Calderwood, BCGEU
Jessica Daigneault, BCGEU
Kari Bepple, BCGEU
Katelynn Banky, BCGEU
Linda Rowley, BCGEU
Melissa Linn, BCGEU
Pamela Pye, BCGEU
Patricia Phillips, BCGEU
Rene Francis, BCGEU
Tammy Lewis, BCGEU
Wynn Hartfelder, BCGEU
Sheryl Burns, CUPE
Gabrielle Cameron, CUPE
Bob Crozier, CUPE
Lee-Ann Lalli, CUPE
Valeria Mancilla, CUPE
Mike Varga, CUPE
David Heuspe, HEU
Cheryl McLachlan, HEU
Loise Peloquin, HEU
Colin Brehaut, HSA
Dawn Marie Goodmurphy, HSA
Shelley Moore, LiUNA! Local 1611
Michael Reed, CUPE Staff
Christina Lloyd-Jones, HEU Staff
James Coccola, BCGEU Executive Vice President
Selena Kongpreecha, Lead Negotiator

UWU/MoveUP

Collective bargaining resumed between the nine-union Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) and the provincial Community Social Services Employers’ Association (CSSEA) this past week to negotiate a new contract for 17,000 unionized workers in the sector. However, on Monday, talks were suspended after the latest proposal put forward by the employers’ association failed to meet the needs identified by workers in the sector.

You have been clear about your priorities and what you want your representatives at the bargaining table to bring forward. These priorities include a fair and equitable compensation package that will help lighten the pressure of rising costs, meaningful recognition of rights for Indigenous workers and your ability to address your own health needs, including mental health supports. 

Community social services sector workers support some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Your bargaining committee is working hard to bring us all a contract that will take care of us as workers and that enables us to provide quality care for the people that we support in our work. 

As we are negotiating, the global health pandemic is entering its third year and your workplaces are critically short-staffed. During the pandemic, many of you were required to remain at work. Now we are pushing for you to be considered as important at the bargaining table too. 

Unfortunately, we are still not there. This past week, our discussions have been challenging and we are still not reaching an agreement on some of the most fundamental priorities that we believe will make the difference for you.

We are working towards true reconciliation which means that all Indigenous workers are respected, and their cultural needs are valued. We are seeking improvements that recognize the cultural capacity and competency that is required to support Indigenous families when working in Indigenous agencies. These improvements should reflect the value our members bring to communities. Government has expressed a strong commitment to reconciliation, and we believe this commitment should also be reflected in your Collective Agreement.

We are not prepared to bring an agreement back to you that does not value your work and addresses your basic needs and your priorities. We are working towards an agreement that not only puts more money in your pocket but enables you to take care of your health and have a safe workplace.

We are still fighting for a compensation package that protects against rising costs and addresses a root problem in our sector: recruitment and retention. If our communities are going to keep the skills and experience we already have in our sector and recruit the next generation, we need a compensation package that is attractive and competitive.

The employers’ association have different ideas to address the systemic issues in the sector.  But we have heard from you about the priorities that will make the difference to you in the workplace and at home and we continue to find way to ensure that your priorities are reflected in the agreement we bring back to you.

What comes next?

We will be back to the negotiating table at a later date to continue this fight. And we will keep you in the loop as we continue these discussions.

In solidarity, 

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee 

PS. 

We're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today. 
 
Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It's more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email, phone number and home mailing address. 

Please make sure that your colleagues are also updating their contact information and share this bulletin! 

UWU/MoveUP

After returning to the negotiating table in mid-September, talks continued over wages and compensation with a focus on making gains in the areas that members have mandated us to achieve in this round of bargaining. 
As it stands, the parties still do not agree on how to reach a tentative agreement that includes a fair and equitable compensation package, meaningful recognition and reconciliation for Indigenous workers, supporting psychologically safer and healthier workplaces and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. 

Community social services is the only public sector with a specific subsector collective agreement for Indigenous Services. These workers support individuals, children and families in communities across the province. We cannot reach a tentative agreement that does not fully recognize these workers and bring them parity with their counterparts, specifically those who are directly employed with the provincial government in non-Indigenous agencies. 

Bargaining will now be paused due to scheduling conflicts. However, we will continue with small group discussions in preparation for resuming negotiations in November. 

In June, the BCGEU members of the CSSBA bargaining committee created a Contract Action Team or CAT. The CAT is a network of members just like you who have attended a training and are now busy helping other CSS members get their contact information updated. We want to make sure everyone receives bulletins like this one, and all the information members need to vote on whatever the bargaining committee brings back from the table – whether that's a tentative agreement or a vote on job action if we reach impasse. 

We know that you have been waiting patiently for us to reach a tentative agreement. While we did not anticipate spending this much time at the bargaining table, we are committed to working towards an agreement we can proudly bring back to members to vote on. 

In solidarity, 

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee 

PS. 

We're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today. 

Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It's more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email, phone number and home mailing address. 

Please make sure that your colleagues are also updating their contact information and share this bulletin! 

UWU/MoveUP

As negotiations for your new collective agreement continue, talks are heating up between your community social services bargaining association and representatives of the employers' association.

This week, your committee countered the employers' wages and compensation offer. Your committee has heard loud and clear from our members across the community social services sector that protection against the rising cost of living is a key priority.

There is still significant work to do at the table to achieve a fair and equitable compensation package, including wage increases, as both sides are quite far apart.

Talks are also focused on meaningful recognition of the rights of Indigenous workers across all three subsector collective agreements- Community Living, General Services, and Indigenous Services.

Community social services is the only public sector with a specific subsector collective agreement for Indigenous Services. These workers support individuals, children, and families in communities across the province in roles including family preservation workers, social workers, counsellors, support workers and so much more.

We cannot reach an agreement that does not fully recognize these workers and bring them parity with their counterparts, specifically workers who are directly employed with the provincial government in non-Indigenous agencies.

Your bargaining team is scheduled to be back at the table for more talks next week. We are making progress on shared priorities including improvements for safer and healthier workplaces, better mental health supports and recognition of the diversity of our members. But we are going to continue to fight hard for a compensation package that recognizes your value.

As we move forward, it is more important than ever before that we keep you in the loop.

We're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today.

Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It's more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email, phone number and home mailing address.

Please make sure that your colleagues are also updating their contact information and share this bulletin!

In solidarity,

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee

UWU/MoveUP

Last week, your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSEA) was back at the negotiations table with the Community Social Services Employers Association of BC (CSSEA) to continue negotiations on a new collective agreement for 17,000 unionized workers in the community social sector.

Discussions at the table are now focused on monetary priorities. Your bargaining committee has made it clear that they are not prepared to accept any offer that does not include a compensation package that recognizes the value of community social services workers and protects you against rising costs.

Your bargaining committee's goal is to work towards a deal that recognizes your value and that addresses the priorities that you identified. Those priorities include a fair and equitable compensation package, health and safety improvements, mental health supports, and meaningful and tangible recognition and reconciliation for all Indigenous workers.

While negotiations are happening, you can help by making sure that all of your co-workers have their union cards and have updated their contact information with their union representatives or stewards. Please share this bulletin!

It is important that every workplace has the most up-to-date contact information so that we can keep everyone in the loop and stay engaged. Please check in with your worksite contacts and stewards and make sure that everyone in your workplace has signed union cards too.  
We're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today.

Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It's more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email and phone number.
 
In solidarity,
 
Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee
 
 
PS. Your bargaining committee has an information video, explaining the bargaining process and what to expect moving forward. You can watch it here!

UWU/MoveUP

The nine-union Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) was back at the table in the first two weeks of August for further discussions with the Community Social Services Employers Association (CSSEA). The community social services sectoral agreements cover more than 17,000 unionized workers across the province and includes workers in the Community Living Services, General Services, and Indigenous Services sub-sectors.
 
Since bargaining began in February, your committee has continued to push for the shared priorities that the members from all unions have identified in the sector. Those priorities include a fair and equitable compensation package, health and safety improvements in the workplace, mental health supports for all workers, and meaningful and tangible recognition and reconciliation for all Indigenous workers.  
 
After months of discussions, we have made progress at the bargaining table and have reached agreement on non-monetary priorities and language improvements to your collective agreement.
 
Last week, the two parties began more in-depth discussions on monetary priorities. Unfortunately, at this point in the process, we continue to be far apart in our positions.
 
Your bargaining committee is not prepared to accept any offer that does not include a compensation package that recognizes the value of community social services workers and protects against rising costs.
  
Essential Services discussions are ongoing
 
Community social services workers are the glue that holds our communities together. When someone is in need, it is you that supports them. For too long many of you have subsidized the province’s social safety net with your own compensation, mental health and time spent away from your families and friends. Now, the community social services sector is at a crisis point with staff shortages, high turnover and increased medical leaves.
 
Your bargaining committee has been hard at work for many months to make the gains that you have identified and need. And if we are not able to do that at the bargaining table, we may need to take job action, as a last resort.
 
Essential service discussions with employers started in July and are in progress.
 
Determining essential service levels is a legal process that is necessary and a normal part of the bargaining process. It prepares us for every scenario, including if we need to take job action.  Essential service levels for each workplace identifies what work needs to be done to keep you and the people you take care of safe.  It is different than when the provincial government determined what jobs were essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
If there is an essential service order from the Labour Board for the program that you are working in or the service that you provide, your union will ensure that the levels are met. You may be hearing information that is confusing.
 
Your bargaining committee is still in active negotiations with the employers’ representatives. Our goal is to negotiate a fair agreement with appropriate compensation while doing our absolute best to minimize impact on you and the community you serve. But we need to be prepared for all possible scenarios, including the ability to apply pressure through various forms of job action.
 
Next steps
 
Our next round of negotiations are scheduled in September. If we are not able to get the best possible agreement for you and your coworkers, then we will come back to you for guidance on our next steps. There are various ways that you as union members can stand strong and united, up to and including job action, which will be coordinated by your bargaining committee. And remember, you cannot be disciplined for participating in any form of job action.
 
We will be thoughtful and strategic and will keep you informed at every step of the way. This is your agreement and you will have a say as we move forward.
 
Keep connected
 
While negotiations are happening, you can help out by making sure that all of your co-workers have their union cards and have updated their contact information with their union representatives or stewards. Please share this bulletin!

It is important that every workplace has the most up-to-date contact information so that we can keep everyone in the loop and stay engaged. Please check in with your worksite contacts and stewards and make sure that everyone in your workplace has signed union cards too. 
 
We’re asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today.

Already have a Member Portal account? You can log in here. If you’ve forgotten your password, you can reset it here. It’s more important than ever to make sure that our union has your up-to-date contact information including your personal email and phone number.

In solidarity,

Your Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) Negotiating Committee


UWU/MoveUP