Friends,

We are very pleased to advise that Parmjeet Kaur Dhaliwal and, Sarbjit Hundal will be joining the bargaining committee. Please join us in welcoming them.

We concluded our first week of bargaining on June 10, 2022. The Union’s opening proposals for a first collective agreement can be found here. It is unlikely we will get everything we want. The Employer will also not get everything it wants. Bargaining is a give and take between the Employer and Union. That process almost always sees both sides giving things up to reach a tentative settlement. However, we heard you when you told us that your priorities are improved wages, benefits, and fairness.

The focus of our first week of bargaining was making sure the Employer understands what we want, and we understand what the Employer wants. Although we had some preliminary conversations about the proposals that involved money, our focus was on proposals that don’t involve money where we were able to make significant progress. It is not unusual to proceed in this manner.

We are scheduled to meet again the week of July 25 at the Fleetwood campus. We understand this seems a long time from now however, we are coordinating 11 different schedules which means that it can take some time to find a common dates. If you would like to observe a bargaining session, please speak to a member of the bargaining committee.

During our June 13, 2022, Zoom member meeting, questions were asked about impact of the freeze ‑ extended to December 31, 2022, on your terms and conditions of employment. Simply put the terms and conditions of employment under which you were working when the Union certified on June 17, 2021, must remain in place until there is a first collective agreement. For example, refusing to pay the bonus given to teachers, refusing to pay bus drivers for all hours worked, refusing to pay bus drivers and office staff over the winter break or, adding to your duties, is not allowed. The Union has filed multiple complaints at the Labour Relations Board over the Employer’s conduct. If your terms and conditions of employment were changed and you haven’t notified the Union, please speak to a member of your bargaining committee.

If you know a BCGEU member who didn’t receive this bulletin, please forward it to them. If you are a BCGEU member who didn’t receive the bulletin directly, please update your email address with your Union by logging into the Member’s Portal here.


In Solidarity,

Parmjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Bargaining Committee Member
Lorena Henriquez, Bargaining Committee Member
Sarbjit Hundal, Bargaining Committee Member
Kulbir Pannu, Bargaining Committee Member
Tatiana Zamorano-Henriquez, Bargaining Committee Member
Zoe Towle, BCGEU Negotiations Staff Rep

Download PDF of notice in English here
Download PDF of notice in Punjabi here

UWU/MoveUP