Friends,

We are very pleased to report that late Tuesday, April 18^th, we entered into a tentative settlement for the renewal of your 2019-2022 Collective Agreement. Highlights include:

THREE YEAR AGREEMENT 
The term of the agreement will be from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025.
 
GENERAL WAGE INCREASES 
The general wage increases for each year of the agreement are as established in the 2022 Shared Recovery Mandate and will be as follows: 

• July 1, 2022 - a flat increase of $0.25/hour plus 3.24%
• July 1, 2023 – 6.75%
• July 1, 2024 – 2% plus a potential Cost of Living Adjustment to a maximum of 3%

The wage increases are retroactive to July 1, 2022 and will apply to all current employees who are members of the bargaining unit on the date of ratification of the tentative settlement, and any employee who retired on or after July 1, 2022.
 
The Isolation Allowance will also increase by the general wage increases.
 
97% NEW HIRE SALARY RATE 
All newly hired employees who are members of the bargaining unit are paid at 97% of their applicable salary until completion of 1820 hours employment. For a fulltime employee, this is equivalent to one year worked. For employees who are hired at less than fulltime it is a lot longer. We were able to reduce the time spent at 97% to 910 hours after initial hire. Therefore, if you are a new hire who has worked at least 910 hours but less than 1820 hours, you should see an additional bump in pay of 3% upon ratification.

COMMON COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT 
Northern Lights College, BCIT, Coast Mountain College, Douglas College, JIBC, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Okanagan College and the respective BCGEU locals have established a common agreement to negotiate common issues that are applicable across all seven employers and the BCGEU locals. The common agreement includes agreement to establish a common wage grid, and Joint Committee on Benefits Administration. The tentative settlement for the common agreement must be ratified at the same time as the tentative settlement for the local collective agreement. It is hoped the common wage grid will be ready for implementation for the next collective agreement.
 
SICK LEAVE 
Paid sick leave will increase from 6 to 10 days annually. Additionally, up to 5 days of unused sick leave will be allowed to be carried over to a maximum of 15 days paid sick leave annually.
 
HEALTH AND WELFARE BENEFIT IMPROVEMENTS 

• Effective July 1, 2023 the Chiropractic maximum reimbursement will increase from $200 to $400 annually.
• Effective July 1, 2023 the reimbursement for professional services will be amended to increase from $20 per visit maximum to $25 per visit maximum and the number of visits before being eligible for reimbursement of the full cost of the service will decrease from the first five visits to the first three visits per calendar year. After three visits the reimbursement will be based on the cost of the service.
• Effective ratification, Dental Plan B covering major restorative services will be increased from 60% reimbursement to 70% reimbursement.
• Effective July 1, 2023 a new psychological services benefit of $200 annually will be implemented. The benefit will include the services of registered counsellors and social workers.
• Effective July 1, 2023 a new Gender Affirmation Benefit to a lifetime maximum of $30,000 to be available to be integrated with the Provincial Health Plan.
• Effective July 1, 2023 massage, and physiotherapy will be capped at $2,500 annually. The cap allowed us to negotiate increases to chiropractor, professional services, dental Plan B and earlier access to disability benefits (see below).

DISABILITY BENEFITS 
Regular Employees will be eligible for short- and long-term disability after six months employment. Members currently need to have worked 1820 hours before being eligible for disability. This means that many members are not entitled to the negotiated benefit. The change to six months employment which is no longer tied to hours worked, will give members previously denied disability because they weren't entitled, access to disability payments.
 
ANNUAL VACATION 

• Schedules for employees required to work between Christmas and New Year's will have to be posted no less than 14 days in advance of the schedule.
• Vacation requests will need to be submitted by March 1^st to allow sufficient time to post by April 1^st providing for a quicker response to second choice requests.
• The "prime time" period has been changed from May 1 – September 30 to May 1 ‑ Labour Day, inclusive. Vacation entitlement will not change.

PAID HOLIDAYS (STATS) 
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been added as a paid stat.
 
TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES 

• The $0.50 per hour payment in lieu of health and welfare benefits will increase by the general wage increase.
• Temporary employees will also see their wage increase from 97% to 100% upon attaining 910 hours of employment after initial hire.
• Temporary employees will be able to decline offers of work if ill or injured without losing their seniority.

LEAVES 

• Self-Identified Indigenous employees will be entitled to two days cultural leave with pay per calendar year.
• Employees who have experienced domestic or sexual violence or whose dependent child has experienced domestic or sexual violence, are entitled to 5 days paid leave, 5 days unpaid leave plus an additional 15 weeks' unpaid leave. The leave can be taken consecutively or intermittently.
• Employees who are undergoing gender affirmation will be entitled to unpaid general leave or sick leave for the procedure(s) required during the transition period.
• Family Responsibility Leave of up to 5 days unpaid leave is now captured in the collective agreement.

JOINT COMMITTEE TO STUDY MODIFIED OR COMPRESSED WORK WEEK 
A joint committee will be struck to study a modified or compressed work week. The intent is to have something in place for the next collective agreement.
 
We will be holding information meetings to allow each of you to ask us questions. We will also send out a ratification document setting out the proposed changes as they will appear in the collective agreement prior to the information meetings. A ratification date has not yet been set. Please continue to watch your inboxes for the details of those meetings and the vote.
 
THE HIGHLIGHTS WE HAVE SET OUT IN THIS BULLETIN ARE TENTATIVE. THE MEMBERS WILL NEED TO RATIFY THE TENTATIVE LOCAL AND COMMON AGREEMENT SETTLEMENTS BEFORE THE AGREED-TO CHANGES ARE IMPLEMENTED. OUR RECOMMENDATION WILL BE THAT THE MEMBERS VOTE TO ACCEPT THE TENTATIVE AGREEMENT.
 
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 Portal here.
 
In solidarity,
 
Jamie Bond, Chairperson, Bargaining Committee
Juanita Fraser, Bargaining Committee
Robyn Mallia, Bargaining Committee
Paola Rodriguez Ruah, Bargaining Committee
Zoe Towle, Spokesperson, Negotiations Staff Rep

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP