Bargaining for local collective agreements is now underway for post-secondary instructors. Please read this bulletin for details and, if you haven't already, provide our union with your personal contact information in the BCGEU Member Portal.

Negotiation status

When we last wrote to you on October 26, we had reached a tentative common collective agreement with the Post-Secondary Employers' Association (PSEA). Highlights of the agreement are outlined in our previous bulletin. 

Once ratified, the common agreement will cover BCGEU members working as instructors at five of our employers: Camosun College, Coast Mountain College, Northern Lights College, Okanagan College, and Selkirk College. 

Before ratification voting of the common agreement can proceed, each of the above local tables must reach a tentative local agreement. Bargaining of these local agreements has been scheduled for the following dates:

• Camosun College: January 12-13 and January 30-February 3
• Coast Mountain College: January 30-February 3
• Northern Lights College: November 21-25
• Okanagan College: TBD; possibly January 2023
• Selkirk College: November 21-22 and November 28-December 2

We, your Instructors Bargaining Council (IBC), will be meeting December 5-6 in Burnaby to continue coordinating across all units, share ideas and strategize on common issues.

When will ratification voting happen?

As your IBC (the elected chairs of the five local bargaining committees), we have agreed in our protocol to coordinate the timing of our ratification voting for when all five tables have reached their tentative local agreements. We do this to demonstrate our solidarity with each other and to the employers. 

This means that ratification voting for both the common agreement and the local agreements will happen at the same time, sometime in 2023 given scheduled bargaining dates above.

For a reminder of the bargaining process, review this infographic and this explainer video.

Why does bargaining take this long?
Local tables bargain local agreements that address issues specific to your institution. Many of these issues are significant and important for us, your local representatives, to try and resolve and take some time as a result.

When will wage increases take affect?

Although the compensation package (under the 2022 PSEC Shared Recovery mandate) was settled in the tentative common agreement, no wage increases will be available until local agreements are ratified. However, once ratified, wage increases will be retroactively applied back to April 1, 2022.

What about members working as instructors at VIU and BCIT?

Members at VIU or BCIT are only covered by their local agreements – not the common agreement – as their employers do not participate in bargaining the common agreement. However, in solidarity with the other five bargaining committees, your elected bargaining representatives (Dean Cadieux of VIU and Erich Moeller of BCIT) continue to participate in our bargaining council.

At this time, the BCIT bargaining committee is in bargaining and the VIU bargaining committee is preparing to table its proposals to the employer. Ratification of these agreements will be independent of the five units covered by the common agreement.

Important: Make sure our union has 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. Please ensure that we have your personal contact information by logging in to the BCGEU Member Portal herebefore your local table bargaining begins. Please encourage your coworkers to do the same.

In solidarity,

Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) 

UWU/MoveUP

Negotiation status

On October 26, 2022, after three days of negotiations in Vancouver, we reached a tentative agreement with the Post-Secondary Employers' Association (PSEA) and representatives from five of our employers: Camosun College, Coast Mountain College, Northern Lights College, Okanagan College, and Selkirk College.

A BCGEU representative from Vancouver Island University (VIU) was present at these negotiations, however, the common agreement will not cover members at this institution at this time because the employer did not participate. We hope to continue our discussions with VIU about joining the common table. For now, both VIU and BCIT Instructors will continue to bargain independently.

For more information about the bargaining process so far, read our October 24 bulletin.

Highlights of the tentative agreement

• the Shared Recovery Negotiating Mandate (as set by the B.C. government via the Public Sector Employers' Association (PSEC) plus Flexibility Allowance (an additional 0.25 per cent of total compensation base) to be determined at the local level how they want to spend it; 
• the agreement is retroactive to April 1, 2022. We were successful in eliminating the language where increases were effective the first pay period, which was an up to two-week delay, in receiving the wage increase and also potential cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) money;
• improvements to the extended health plan (both hearing aide and paramedical reimbursements); plus, expanded mental health resources to include social workers and registered counsellors;
• meals for attendants (when you need someone to travel with you) are now included in the Medical Travel Insurance;
• Cultural leave for Indigenous workers;
• the LOU on Distributed Learning and Workload has been referred to Joint Labour-Management Committees (local) as a standing item for discussion to support future bargaining; the unused money from this budget will be re-distributed to local tables to determine how they want to spend it; and
• Harassment and Discrimination language maintained; we aim to address further at local tables.

Once ratified, the agreement will cover BCGEU members working as instructors at the following five post-secondary institutions:

• Coast Mountain College
• Northern Lights College
• Okanagan College
• Camosun College
• Selkirk College

Next steps

The common agreement will proceed to ratification once each of the five local tables have completed their local bargaining processes. Full details of the common agreement will be kept confidential until the bargaining process is complete.

Dates are now being scheduled for local table bargaining. We will notify you as soon as they are confirmed.

A couple other important notes:

• Local tables bargain local agreements that address issues specific to your institution.
• Neither a strike vote nor a ratification vote can be taken until bargaining is completed at both the Multi-Employer Table and each local table.

IMPORTANT: Do we have your personal contact info?

More work and information is still to come, and if we don't have your up-to-date personal email address and phone number, you could miss important updates.
We're asking all members to make sure your contact information is up to date in the BCGEU Member Portal before local bargaining begins.
CLICK HERE TO REVIEW/UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO IN MEMBER PORTAL

If you do not yet have a BCGEU Member Portal account, click here to request one. Then watch for an email with instructions to activate it.

And please check with your coworkers to ensure they are receiving our bulletins, and that they also have provided their personal contact information through the BCGEU Member Portal.
 
In solidarity,

Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) 

UWU/MoveUP

Negotiations for the next common collective agreement for post-secondary instructors resumes October 24-28, 2022, in Burnaby. Please read this bulletin for important information about progress at the bargaining table and your next steps.

Negotiation status

We last wrote to you in April and, since that time, we have not met with the Employer. This week, we will be meeting with the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association (PSEA) and representatives from five of our employers: Camosun College, Coast Mountain College, Northern Lights College, Okanagan College, and Selkirk College. Note: BCGEU representatives from Vancouver Island University and BCIT will also attend but in caucus only (and not at the bargaining table, as these employers are not participating in the common agreement).

We expect to receive a response from the PSEA today (Monday, October 24) now that they have received the mandate from the Public Sector Employers’ Association (PSEC) which informs the PSEA’s monetary package within which your employers can bargain.

To ensure they present their monetary package, we have held firm (at impasse) on some outstanding items including Harassment and Discrimination language, and Distributed Learning.

For more information about the bargaining process and your collective agreement, read our April bulletin in full.

IMPORTANT: Do we have your contact info?

There is important information that we need to share with you and, if we don’t have your up-to-date personal email address and phone number, you could miss important updates.

We’re asking all members to make sure your contact information is up to date in the BCGEU Member Portal before local bargaining begins.

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW/UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO IN MEMBER PORTAL

If you do not yet have a BCGEU Member Portal account, click here to request one. Then watch for an email with instructions to activate it.

And please check with your coworkers to ensure they are receiving our bulletins, and that they also have provided their personal contact information through the BCGEU Member Portal.

In solidarity,
Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) 

UWU/MoveUP

Have you heard the news? Your fellow BCGEU members in the Public Service voted 94.6% in favour of striking for a fair collective agreement that includes cost-of-living-adjustments. Here’s how this affects you:
 
Members directly employed by the Government of B.C. took a strike vote to push their employer, the Public Service Agency (PSA), to improve their disappointing wage offer and come back with a fair proposal. As the vote wrapped up – before we even knew the results – their employer asked the union’s bargaining committee to return to negotiations. 
 
Just by voting, your fellow members sent a strong message to their employer. Today they amplified that message, and made it clear they’re united in their commitment to negotiate fair wages. They are now in a strong position to get a fair deal, and this is good news for you because the public service is the largest sectoral bargaining unit in the province and can set a strong precedent for other sectors like yours.
 
A win for the public service is a win for you. 
 
Am I going on strike? 
No, your bargaining unit is not going on strike. The strike vote does not apply to your bargaining unit, only to the 33,000 members in the Public Service (direct government services in Components 1, 5, 6, 12 and 20).
 
Are public service members going on strike? 
Not immediately. This will depend on their employer’s position when they return to the bargaining table. Depending on that, BCGEU public service members may have to action the strike vote. Don't worry – we will provide updates when we know more. 
 
Many of you work alongside these members, we all depend on the services they provide, so your union will tell you ahead of time if there will be any job action.
 
Make sure to keep up-to-date with updates from your bargaining committee to find out actions you can take to help them apply pressure at the bargaining table. If they’re feeling the strength of our solidarity from all sides, they cannot ignore us. 
 
In Solidarity,
 
Stephanie Smith
BCGEU President 

UWU/MoveUP

Negotiations for the next common collective agreement for post-secondary instructors have begun. This bulletin contains important information about progress at the bargaining table and your next steps.
 
Negotiation status
 
Your bargaining committee – the Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) – met with the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association (PSEA) and representatives from your five employers in Vancouver on February 28 to March 4 and again March 28 to March 31.
 
The meetings included a full exchange of non-monetary proposals. We reached agreement on several items – mostly housekeeping changes. However, other priority issues, including harassment and distributed learning, remain unresolved. 
 
Your committee also tabled all our monetary proposals on your behalf on March 31. These included a wage increase that provides cost of living adjustment (COLA) protections.
 
We are now waiting to hear back from the employer about all our proposals. Although movement continues to be slow and no dates are yet set for additional talks, your bargaining committee remains committed to bringing forward your priorities.
 
Bargaining process explained
 
Bargaining a collective agreement can be a long and complex process. To help you better understand what’s involved, we’ve produced an explainer video – Collective Bargaining 101 for Post-Secondary Instructors.
 
The video, which features members of your committee so you can get to know us, explains each step of the bargaining process and is indexed by topic:
 
0:08 - Determining Bargaining Priorities
2:42 - At the Bargaining Table
4:00 - Reaching Impasse: Escalation and Job Action
5:53 - Voting on a tentative agreement
6:44 - A Deal is Reached
 
You may also find this infographic useful to visual reference as you watch the video:
 



 
About your collective agreement
 
Your collective agreement covers you and 900 other BCGEU members at five B.C. institutions. It took affect April 1, 2019, and expired March 31, 2022.
 
Although your collective agreement has expired, it is important to remember that, under the terms of the Common Agreement – Article 17 – Term, both union members and the employer have agreed to fully adhere to the terms of the collective agreement while collective bargaining is ongoing. This means that, unless you hear otherwise from us, it’s business as usual for you and your coworkers.
 
For further information about your collective agreement and your employer, review our March 2^nd bulletin.
 
IMPORTANT: Contact information – is it up to date?
 
It’s critical that we’re able to communicate important bargaining information with you through your personal email and phone number. If this bulletin is reaching you at your employer-provided email address, please log in to the BCGEU Member Portal immediately to review and update your personal contact information.
 
If you don’t have a BCGEU Member Portal account, click here to request an account. Then watch for an email with instructions to activate it.
 
And please check with your coworkers to ensure they are receiving our bulletins, and that they also have provided their personal contact information through the BCGEU Member Portal.
 
Finally…
 
As your elected committee, we will continue updating you as bargaining proceeds and will keep you informed every step of the way. We encourage you to read our previous bulletin to ensure you have all the information.
 
In solidarity,
Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC) 

• Cam McRobb (committee chair) – Okanagan College, Local 707
• Seth Downs – Coast Mountain College, Local 712
• Rob-Roy Douglas – Northern Lights College, Local 710
• Dave Briggeman – Selkirk College, Local 709
• Al Paterson – Camosun College, Local 701
• Linsay Buss – BCGEU Staff Negotiator
• Jitesh Mistry – BCGEU General Counsel

UWU/MoveUP

Negotiations for the next common collective agreement for post-secondary instructors kicked off this week, in person in Vancouver, approximately one month before the current agreement is due to expire.

This agreement, which took affect April 1, 2019 and expires March 31, 2022, covers you and 900 other BCGEU members at five B.C. institutions.
 
As your elected Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC), we negotiate with your employer’s bargaining agent – the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association (PSEA). The PSEA represents all public colleges, special-purpose teaching universities, and institutes in B.C. and therefore negotiates with other bargaining committees from the BCGEU and other unions. We are the first bargaining committee to negotiate with PSEA during this round.
 
We are a strong committee experienced in negotiations and ready to work on your behalf. Your committee includes:

• Cam McRobb (committee chair) – Okanagan College, Local 707
• Daryl Pushor – Vancouver Island University, Local 702
• Al Paterson – Camosun College, Local 701
• Dave Briggeman – Selkirk College, Local 709
• Rob-Roy Douglas – Northern Lights College, Local 710
• Seth Downs – Coast Mountain College, Local 712
• Linsay Buss – BCGEU Staff Negotiator
• Jitesh Mistry – BCGEU General Counsel

We negotiate two kinds of agreements with the PSEA – the common agreement which spells out wages, terms, and conditions for all members of the five bargaining units, and local agreements which address issues that are very specific to your institution. 

Negotiation dates for the common agreement are currently set for February 28 to March 4 and March 28 to March 31. Dates to negotiate local agreements are still to be determined.

Since last fall, we’ve been hard at work preparing a comprehensive package of proposals to present to the employer. Our preparation included consideration of proposals from your BCGEU locals and member responses to a bargaining survey.

Your input has been clear and consistent: you want a fair and equitable contract that addresses the rapidly rising cost-of-living, working conditions and much-needed instructor support, builds on the gains we achieved in the current agreement, and recognizes how critically important the post-secondary sector and workers are to British Columbians.  

We know well the extraordinary risks and challenges you’ve faced from the pandemic, especially having to rapidly “pivot” from in-person instruction to online instruction with minimal support from the employer. 

We also know you’ve gone above and beyond working towards lasting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, eliminating racism and discrimination from your workplaces, and making our province’s post-secondary sector a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place.

You’ve demonstrated commitment, perseverance, and professionalism. Through all of this, you’ve learned your value and grown your solidarity. 

Our bargaining proposals are based on all of this. Addressing your demands in your next collective agreement is one way your employer can show respect for everything you’ve done.

We understand financial issues are key to a tentative agreement. With inflation currently running at well over four per cent annually, the challenges in these negotiations are clear to your committee. 

We will update you as negotiations proceed and keep you informed every step of the way.

To learn about the bargaining process, check out this infographic.

In solidarity,
Your Post-Secondary Instructors Bargaining Committee (IBC)
 

PS. If you know a co-worker who is not getting these emails, forward this email to them and tell them to update their information with the BCGEU here: https://members.bcgeu.ca/signup If they aren’t getting emails, we don’t have their contact info! 

UWU/MoveUP