Friends,
 
We are writing to provide an update regarding the progress of negotiations for the renewal of your 2019-2022 collective agreement.
 
We exchanged proposals with the Employer on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. We met again February 16, 21, 23, 24, and March 1 and are scheduled to resume March 23 for two days with additional days to be scheduled. We have had productive sessions with the Employer exploring our respective positions and have been able to reach agreement on several proposals such as the development of a clearer way to track vacation. Overall, negotiations have been productive allowing us to identify those areas in which we are in agreement as well as those where we are not.
 
We have been clear with the Employer that your priorities are improved wages, improvements to the conditions of employment for the auxiliary employees, increased pension contributions and an improved work-life balance. That the surveys we conducted in the lead-up to bargaining consistently identified those three areas as ‘must have’ improvements.
 
We will start discussing our respective monetary proposals when we next meet. Those conversations have historically been challenging, and we anticipate that it will be no different this time around. However, it is our hope that the progress and open dialogue that we have had thus far will see us through some tough conversations.
 
As most of you may be aware, wage increases will be as established by the provincial bargaining mandate for our sector which will see an increase of $0.25 per hour in the first year plus an additional 10.74% to 12.99% depending on inflation adjustments over the term of what will be a three-year collective agreement. The wage increases will be retroactive to July 1, 2022. There are also negotiable flexibility allocation monies of 0.25% to support mutually beneficial outcomes. We anticipate the focus of the discussion about compensation will be about those monies.
 
We will continue to keep you informed as bargaining progresses. In the interim, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact a member of your bargaining committee.
 
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,
 
Freyja Sankey, Bargaining Committee Chairperson
Gail Gordon, Bargaining Committee Member
Shannon Heighes, Bargaining Committee Member
Rachel Lamphear, Bargaining Committee member Observer
Zoe Towle, Spokesperson, Negotiations Staff Representative



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UWU/MoveUP