Momentum is building! Until last week, the pace of negotiations had been frustrating for our bargaining committee with the employer slow to respond to the FBA’s comprehensive package of proposals. However, in the last week the employer tabled counter-proposals to a number of items including health and safety, recruitment and retention and access to job training and education.

A full five days of bargaining is scheduled for this week. As momentum develops at the table we’re encouraged, but we also know that a new collective agreement must protect wages against the rising cost of living and the compensation package remains an outstanding issue. To that end, the BCGEU continues to coordinate with other public sector unions that are in bargaining on the issue of compensation. 

The BCGEU has also joined the HEU, CUPE BC, PEA, BCTF, UFCW, and MoveUp in placing ads in several B.C. newspapers over the past two weeks to press for fair compensation for public sector workers. You can share a video version of this ad here.

Finally, our committee wanted to note that talks have currently broken down between the Public Service Agency (PSA) and our fellow BCGEU members working in the public service. Those members voted by nearly 95 per cent in favour of striking for a fair collective agreement that includes cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). While negotiations at the FBA table (and at most other public sector tables) are at earlier stages than the PSA table, we’ll be watching closely as this group works to demand action on what has become a key issue for all workers in B.C.

In solidarity,

Your Facilities Bargaining Association Bargaining Committee

UWU/MoveUP