On July 6, 2017, your Employer responded to the Union's monetary proposals that had been tabled weeks earlier. July 6^th turned out to be a very disappointing day. Instead of coming to the table with a serious offer to improve wages and benefits, the Employer presented a package that offered few improvements and actual ROLLBACKS! Talk about being completely unacceptable!!

When the parties resumed talks on July 19^th, it was the Union's turn to respond to the Employer. What we gave them on Wednesday was a monetary package that showed some movement, but still ensured substantial improvements to your wages and benefits. Your Employer expressed outrage! They felt we had not moved enough. Our message to them? Come back to the bargaining table with a respectful monetary package, or talks will end. They maintain they will respond with something meaningful on July 25^th. We sure hope they do. The Union is now preparing members at River Rock for a potential strike. This is serious, and we hope the Employer is recognizing it as such.

On a positive note, your bargaining committee would like to thank the hundreds of River Rock members who attended the Union's strike education sessions at the Radisson Hotel on July 19^th and 20^th. It was an impressive turnout, with many members getting to meet BCGEU President Stephanie Smith and other elected representatives. Stephanie was pleased to announce that in the event of a strike, the BCGEU Provincial Executive had approved "Target Strike Pay" for River Rock members. Target strike pay is superior to regular strike pay, and will help ensure members maintain a reasonable income in the event of a work stoppage. Good news indeed!

Finally, please keep checking for regular updates from the Union. Preparations are being made should we need to conduct a strike vote, so it's important that we all stay informed.

To help ensure you receive a copy of bargaining updates please provide a personal email address to the BCGEU at http://www.bcgeu.ca/update. If we already have an email address on file for you and you wish to edit or update any of your existing contact information, you can use the same form.

Many thanks for all of your patience and your support!!

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee: Cherry Huang, Hayman Sung, Harvinder Jaswal, San Chen, Glenn Matheson,
Zenaida Ordonez, Watson Tseng, Eric Escobar

Chad McQuarrie, Staff Representative - Negotiations

Linsay Buss, Staff Representative – Negotiations