Your bargaining committee would like to invite you to join a ratification meeting on Monday, June 14, drop in between 2:00 – 3:30pm. This will be a chance to ask questions on the tentative agreement and what the next steps will be if you vote to accept or reject the agreement.

The meeting will take place over Zoom due to public health restrictions. This will be your only chance to ask questions to Staff Representative Sheila Matthen, but you can ask a member of the bargaining committee questions any time. Bargaining Committee Chair Christine Guandan-Nair will be accessing the meeting in the staff room on the Fleetwood computer for members who are on-site at the time of the meeting.

You can also join the meeting by calling in from your phone, or using the Zoom app or a web browser on your computer or other device.

Meeting Details
Date: Monday, June 14
Time: Drop in anytime between 2:00 – 3:30 pm
How: Please check your email or speak to a member of the bargaining committee for meeting details.

To download the Zoom mobile app for Android click here.
To download the Zoom mobile app for iPhone click here.
To join a meeting from your internet browser, click here and enter the meeting ID and passcode.

If you're having trouble logging into Zoom, there is support for joining a meeting, and frequently asked questions.

Ratification Document

The full ratification document can be found here. When you vote, you will be voting to accept all the changes in the entire document. New language that would be added to the collective agreement is in bold, underline and highlight, like this. Language that would be deleted from the collective agreement is struck through with a line.

The ratification document contains many important changes. We will outline the highlights in the meeting and answer questions you may have. We strongly encourage you to read the entire document in advance so you can ask questions at the meeting and be prepared to vote on ratifying the new collective agreement.

Tentative Agreement Highlights:

This agreement was negotiated to bring Fleetwod and Whitecliff's expiry dates together to December 31, 2021, as part of the Common Employer Settlement between BCGEU and Revera. As part of this settlement, we agreed on that only monetary items and changes from the Employment Standards Act would be open to bargaining. For the next collective agreement renewal, starting January 1, 2022, you will do a full renewal of all language changes, such as health and safety or scheduling changes you'd like to see.

• Length of agreement: 2.5 years, from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021.
• Wages: The bargaining committee decided not to put forward any wage proposals while wage-levelling is in place since any increases we negotiated under the wage-levelled rate would not go to you and would go back to the government. We decided to focus on other monetary gains, which we achieved.
• Ratification payment: A one time lump sum payment of 2.5% of your wages for all hours worked in the 12-months before wage-levelling. Members who are employed as of date of ratification who were also employed when wage-leveling came into effect on May 15, 2020, will receive this payment.
• Despite BCGEU's request, Revera has decided to tax the ratification payment as a lump sum payment. This means you will likely owe tax on the payment amount when you file your taxes for 2021. BCGEU has made it clear to the Employer that we do not agree with under-taxing the lump sum payment, but Revera has decided to go ahead with this decision.
• Shift Differential: Effective January 1, 2022, there will be an increase in the existing night shift differential, from $0.75 to $1.00 per hour. Two new shift differentials will also be introduced: evening shifts between 3:00pm – 11:00pm will now earn $0.75/hour, and weekend day shifts between 7:00am – 3:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays will now earn $0.75/hour.
• All shift differentials will now apply to shifts where the majority of hours worked are in the applicable time period.
• Sick Leave: No change to sick leave for full-time and part-time regular employees working over 20 hours per week. Part-time employees working less than 20 hours a week will be able to bank up to 22.5 hours of sick leave going forward.
• This is a change in the collective agreement from 150 hours, but the Union believes that this cap was an error in the agreement. The Employer believed that part-time employees working under 20 hours a week should not be entitled to paid sick leave, however your bargaining committee fought hard to keep paid sick leave for all employees.
• Bereavement Leave: Employees who lose a pregnancy are now entitled to paid bereavement leave. This is in addition to the 6 weeks of leave unpaid in Article 22 (Pregnancy, Adoption and Parental Leave).
• Pregnancy and Parental Leave (formerly Maternity, Adoption and Parental Leave): To make your collective agreement language more inclusive, we have agreed to change the name of this article to Pregnancy and Parental Leave. Other changes in this article are from the Employment Standards Act.
• Benefits: Your benefits will now include a direct pay drug card. There will now be mandatory generic substitution of prescription drugs, unless your doctor specifies that you cannot have substitutions. Appendix 5, which has a detailed listing of your benefit plans, will have an error corrected so that your maximum dental lifetime coverage is the same as what is listed in the collective agreement.

Voting Information

Voting will open at 3:00 pm on June 14. You will receive an email with a link to vote online and your unique voting credentials. Voting will close at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, June 22. We strongly encourage you to vote, as this will be your only method to cast a ballot.

A member who does not receive a voting credential (likely because BCGEU does not have their personal email address), or who experiences problems casting their vote, should contact [email protected], or Sheila Matthen (Staff Representative) by calling 604-291-9611 or 1-800-663-1674 ASAP after voting opens, but no later than Tuesday, June 22 at 12:00 pm. This will allow enough time to issue a voting credential that day before voting closes. Please note that phone support is available during regular BCGEU office hours from 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Please log into the Member's Portal here to ensure BCGEU has your correct email address for voting credentials to be emailed to you.

Ratification results will be announced on Wednesday, June 23.

We strongly encourage you to vote on ratifying your collective agreement.

In solidarity,

Christine Gaundan-Nair, Bargaining Committee Chair
Amandeep Khangura, Bargaining Committee Member
Sheila Sandoval, Bargaining Committee Member
Sheila Matthen, Staff Representative, Negotiations

Download PDF of notice here 

UWU/MoveUP