Public service agreement ratification process under way

UPDATE #7

 Now that a tentative agreement for direct government workers has been reached, the ratification process is under way. Here is what you can expect in the coming weeks:

Ratification Bulletin:
A comprehensive ratification bulletin containing all the proposed changes to the collective agreement is being prepared and will be mailed to all public service members in the coming weeks. You will have time to review it before voting.

Member Portal:
All the ratification documents are being posted on the member portal as soon as they are available. Make sure the union has your correct contact information by logging in to the Member Portal (https://members.bcgeu.ca/login). If you need to register, click on the 'Not sure if you are registered?' link and submit your information online.

Telephone Town Hall Meetings:
Two telephone town hall meetings for public service workers have been scheduled, for Tuesday, July 10 and Thursday, July 12. Members will receive email and telephone notices to let you register for the events or call in directly.

Regional Meetings:
Information and voting meetings are being scheduled to take place at all 12 area offices around the province in July. A meeting schedule will be included in the Ratification Bulletin, or by logging on to the BCGEU member portal and downloading the files.

Voting:
Ballot packages are being printed and distributed to stewards. Shop stewards and mail contact members will be conducting votes on the tentative agreement at work sites across the province. Clause 2.6 of the collective agreement entitles stewards to undertake ratification vote duties on work time and without loss of pay.

When casting your vote, you will be asked to vote on two agreements – the Public Service Main Agreement, as well as your individual Component Agreement. Details on the component agreements are available at the BCGEU member portal, as well as at area offices.

Vote Count:
The ballot counting of all public service members' votes will take place on August 8, 2018 at BCGEU HQ in Burnaby. All ballots must be submitted to HQ or any Area Office by the close of business (5:00 pm) Tuesday, August 7th. 


Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP

After five weeks of negotiations, the BCGEU has reached a tentative three-year agreement with the B.C. Government for members working in direct government service. The Public Service Bargaining Committee is recommending that members vote in favour of the agreement.

On ratification, all changes to the tentative 18th Public Service Agreement will take effect after the expiry of the current agreement. At that time, the 18th Public Service Agreement and the 5 individual component agreements will replace the current agreements.

To help prepare for the ratification vote, the union has put together a ratification newsletter, which should be arriving in the mail, and via email to all members.

You can download the ratification newsletter by clicking here

To download an audio version of the ratification document click here. (You must be logged into the member portal)

This newsletter includes important information about the ratification process. It also contains detailed information about the 18th Public Service Agreement as well as individual component agreements.

In addition to negotiations at the main table, component negotiating committees worked hard to get sector-specific agreements for members, and all five of them are recommending acceptance and ratification of the component agreements. 

Click on your component to view more information, as well as download your tentative agreement:

Component 1 

Component 5

Component 6

Component 12

Component 20

Telephone Town Hall Meetings:

Two telephone town hall meetings for public service workers have been scheduled, for Tuesday, July 10 and Thursday, July 12. Members will receive email and telephone notices so you can register for these calls.

Regional Meetings:
Information and voting meetings are being scheduled to take place at all 12 area offices around the province in July. A meeting schedule has been emailed to members, and is also included in the ratification newsletter above.

Meeting Schedule

• Area 01 – Victoria
  • July 26 Noon & 6:00 pm: Victoria Area Office, 2994 Douglas St, Auditorium
    
    
• Area 02 – North Island
  • July 25 6:00 pm: Nanaimo Area Office, 106 – 1650 Terminal Ave N
    
    
• Area 03 – Lower Mainland
  • July 17 & 18 6:00 pm: LMAO, 130 – 2920 Virtual Way, Vancouver
    
    
• Area 04 – Fraser Valley
  • July 19 6:00: Langley, Fraser Valley Area Office, 8555 - 198A St, Langley, BC
    
    
• Area 05 – Kamloops
  • July 18 6:00 pm: Coast Kamloops Hotel, 1250 Rogers Way, Kamloops
    
    
• Area 06 – Cariboo
  • July 19 6:00 pm: Ramada Williams Lake, 1118 Lakeview Crescent
    
    
• Area 07 – Okanagan
  • July 25 6:00 pm: Kelowna Area Office, 1064 Borden Ave
    
    
• Area 08 – East Kootenay
  • July 18 6:00 pm: St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino 7777 Mission Rd., Cranbrook
    
    
• Area 09 – West Kootenay
  • July 26 6:00 pm: Super 8, 651 18 St., Castlegar
    
    
• Area 10 – Peace River
  • July 11 6:00 pm: Fort St. John Area Office, 10147 - 100 Ave
    
    
• Area 11 – Prince George
  • July 16 6:00 pm: Prince George Area Office, 500 Quebec St
    
    
• Area 12 – Northwest
  • July 9 6:00 pm: Holiday Inn Express, 3059 Hwy. 16 East, Terrace

Voting:
Ballot packages are being printed and distributed to stewards. Shop stewards and mail contact members will be conducting votes on the tentative agreement at work sites across the province. Clause 2.6 of the collective agreement entitles stewards to undertake ratification vote duties on work time and without loss of pay.

When casting your vote, you will be asked to vote on two agreements – the Public Service Agreement (the main agreement), as well as your individual component agreement. Details on the component agreements are available by clicking on your component link above, signing on to the BCGEU member portal, as well as at area offices.

Vote Count:
The ballot counting of all public service members' votes will take place on August 8, 2018 at BCGEU HQ in Burnaby. All ballots must be submitted to HQ or any Area Office by the close of business (5:00 pm) Tuesday, August 7th.

UWU/MoveUP

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day- a special day for all communities to celebrate, recognize, and honour the achievements, history and cultures of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada. The BCGEU is proud to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and to reaffirm our commitment to lasting and meaningful reconciliation. We invite you to join us in marking this day with community events across British Columbia to showcase and celebrate Indigenous peoples through stories, songs, art, and dance. National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day for celebration, but it is also a day for reflection upon our shared history and in building a better future for all. The BCGEU is looking forward to delivering our members' stories and recommendations directly to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. We are hopeful that in listening and learning from the voices of Indigenous women, families and community leaders and in engaging respectfully in dialogue, we can ensure that decision makers act on what the Inquiry reveals.

Every day, our members across the province are taking important steps to strengthen partnerships with Indigenous communities and form relationships built on respect, partnership and recognition of rights. Our Indigenous solidarity poster, designed by artist Simone Diamond of the Quw'utsun (Cowichan), reminds us that our union is made stronger by our numbers and diversity.

To celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day, BCGEU members will be attending community events with our friends and allies across British Columbia. To find an event in your hometown, please visit our events listings. If you are in Vancouver, please join us today for a pancake breakfast at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre at 9 am, a Friendship Walk at 11 am and a day of celebration, dance performances, canoeing, art displays and cultural learning events at Trout Lake.

We look forward to another year of putting reconciliation into action in our work places and communities and in building a new way forward for all Canadians.

UWU/MoveUP

The union's Education and Scholarship committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 awards for full and part-time post-secondary students. In all, $60,000 in scholarships will be awarded, with 26 full-time awards of $2,000 and eight awards of $1,000. Winners include BCGEU members and family members, all starting or continuing their post-secondary education.

"We thank everyone who submitted an application and essay. It was difficult to settle on the finalists", says Kari Michaels, executive vice-president and chairperson of the committee.

Rosa Aminzavvar, Vancouver

Shane Atienza, Burnaby

Naveen Aujla, Delta

Katelynn Baerg, Prince George

Kaelin Brons, Moberly Lake

Schynel Carley, Vernon

Daniele Celella, Agassiz

Monica Cervantes, Vancouver

Chiara Ciapponi, Burnaby

Brittany Clark, Vancouver

Destany Crane, Victoria

Alexa Derksen, Burnaby

Sani Mirsan Dzafic, Burnaby

James Gillis, Victoria

Connor Hawes, Grand Forks

Seung Hwan (John) Lee, Kamloops

Katja Juthans, North Vancouver

Natalie Klassen, Kamloops

Trevor Lee, Victoria

Lydia Lobbezoo, Victoria

Darrin McBee, Castlegar

Chance McCoshen, Salmon Arm

Karly Morgan, Port Moody

Frank Morven, Prince Rupert

Trish Palichuk, Victoria

Dustin Procee, Burnaby

Sharifa Riddett, Victoria

Kai Roenspiess, Nelson

Gurpreet Sangha, Surrey

Madison Slocum, Parksville

Heidi Stooshnoff, Maple Ridge

Maggie Thomson-Kurz, Comox

Cassidy-Joy Wait, North Vancouver

Brysen Watson, Kamloops

UWU/MoveUP

The BC Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) stands with B.C. fishing communities, scientists, business leaders and Indigenous groups in signing the "Declaration in Defence of Wild Salmon," which includes asking the provincial government not to renew 20 fish farm tenures in the Broughton Archipelago, set to expire on June 20, 2018.

"Healthy wild salmon stocks are essential to the health of ecosystems, to tourism and fisheries jobs, and of course to coastal First Nations in B.C. for whom salmon have been an essential cultural and natural resource for thousands of years," says BCGEU president Stephanie Smith. "The science indicates that parasites and disease from open net-pen fish farms threaten wild salmon, and it's time we began a transition away from this harmful practice."

The BCGEU supports transitioning open net-pen fish farms to land-based production where pesticides, waste, and farmed Atlantic salmon are contained and can no longer threaten the habitat and migratory paths of wild Pacific salmon. However, the union also stresses that this should occur through a "just transition" – an approach that ensures the livelihoods of workers are protected when economies shift to sustainable production.

"A shift to more sustainable fish farming technology must include a just transition for fish farm workers," adds Smith. "B.C. can be a world leader in sustainable aquaculture resulting in many good jobs. We encourage both the federal and provincial governments to promote and support a land-based aquaculture industry, helping to smooth the transition for both the technology, and the workers."

The declaration also calls on government to defend and restore Pacific salmon by expanding the moratorium on new open net-pen salmon farms in the north to include all B.C. coastal waters; implementing plans for rebuilding at-risk stocks; and respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by removing existing farms from waters where First Nations have not provided consent.

The declaration was launched by 26 prominent individuals and can be found at www.safesalmon.ca, a website hosted by Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Georgia Strait Alliance and Living Oceans Society.

UWU/MoveUP

Please click the links below to find events in your area!

• National Indigenous Day, 2018 - Northern BC 

• National Indigenous Day, 2018 - Greater Vancouver Regional District

• National Indigenous Day, 2018 - Vancouver Island

• National Indigenous Day, 2018 - Interior 

UWU/MoveUP

More than 675 Okanagan casino workers will walk off the job this week.

Casino workers at Cascades Kamloops, Cascades Penticton, Playtime Kelowna and Lake City Vernon are set to strike Friday, June 29, after mediation broke down earlier this week.

"Our members are asking for living wages that would bring them in-line with the industry standard for casino workers in BC," said BCGEU President Stephanie Smith, in a press release.

Read more...

UWU/MoveUP

The Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) and the Community Social Services Employers' Association (CSSEA) have reached a tentative three-year collective agreement for Aboriginal Services. This agreement provides significant compensation increases for workers in this sector while meeting the government mandate of improving the services British Columbians count on.

Highlights of the tentative agreement include significant money for low wage redress for all members in addition to general wage increases, as well as strong improvements to language and policy to ensure culturally appropriate care is provided and prioritized.

The BC Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) is the lead union in the bargaining association consisting of 10 unions including CUPE, HEU, HSA, CSWU, UFCW, USW, SEIU, CLAC and BCNU and representing 16,000 members.

UWU/MoveUP

Deal reached after more than six weeks on strike

(Coquitlam) - After being on strike for more than six weeks, over 400 members of the BC Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) working at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver in Coquitlam have reached a tentative agreement with their employer.

"Through their hard work and unity, Hard Rock workers have a solid first agreement on the table," says BCGEU President Stephanie Smith.

"These workers have stuck together and it has paid off - I'm so proud of the commitment and solidarity our members have shown."

Employees at Hard Rock voted to join the BCGEU in May 2016 and have been trying to negotiate a first collective agreement with their employer since January 2017. When they reached impasse earlier this year, 99.5% of Hard Rock workers voted in favour of strike action.

Over 400 workers at the casino walked off the job on May 11, 2018 after mediation broke down. Major issues included wages and hours of work.

Both sides reached a deal in mediation over the weekend. Union members at the casino will vote on the tentative agreement later this week.

"We won't be releasing details until the members have had a chance to look over and ratify the agreement but, the bargaining committee is pleased with the achievements they've made and are recommending their co-workers vote to accept the deal," says Smith.

"I want to give my whole-hearted thanks to the bargaining committee for working tirelessly on behalf of their fellow BCGEU members. This truly is a ground-breaking deal that will help achieve fairness for casino workers across the industry."

BCGEU represents thousands of casino workers in the province including over 400 staff at Hard Rock working in table games, as slot attendants, cashiers, in the count room, kitchen, security, theatre and guest services.

UWU/MoveUP