Right now, your bargaining committee is hard at work on your new collective agreement.  

Negotiating decent work terms and conditions is a key part of the work that we do together at a union. Community social services collective agreements cover a wide variety of issues including wages, employment benefit plans, health and safety, protection from discrimination and harassment, and much more.

Within the community social services sector, there are three sub-sectors- Indigenous Services, General Services and Community Living Services.

You may have noticed that April 1st, 2022, marked the expiry of your collective agreement. 

As both sides are continuing the bargaining process for your new collective agreement, the terms and conditions of the recently expired agreement are still in effect.  This means it is business as usual for you and your coworkers, including local issues bargaining, unless you hear otherwise from your union. There are many stages of the bargaining process, and right now, your bargaining committee is still at the negotiating table. 
 
Workers that are covered under the Indigenous Services agreement have unique and specific concerns and needs. In recognition of this, negotiations for the Indigenous Services agreement are underway right now at a separate and concurrent bargaining table as the broader Community Social Services bargaining table.

Your bargaining committee is bringing forward all the issues and priorities that you identified in member surveys, engagement opportunities and the bargaining conference, which had participation from a representative from every Indigenous Services agency.

Bargaining the main table for the three collective agreements will continue this week until April 8th. Bargaining for Indigenous Services will continue with dates throughout April. We will be taking a scheduled break in negotiations and will resume in mid-May. As negotiations continue, we will continue to communicate with you to keep you informed. 

Important: Is your contact information up to date?
 
Now is a great time to make sure we have your updated contact information. We're asking all members to update your contact information in the Member Portal.
 
Click here to visit the BCGEU member portal to review and update your contact information. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. If you don't yet have a Member Portal account, click here to sign up today. 

It’s important that we have your personal email address and personal cell phone number. Please check with your coworkers to make sure they are also receiving these email updates and share them.

In solidarity,

Your Indigenous Services Bargaining Committee

Andrea Duncan, C3 Vice President, Chair of Bargaining Committee
Patricia Phillips, Co-Chair
Melissa Linn
James Coccola, Executive Vice-President
Selena Kongpreecha, Lead spokesperson

UWU/MoveUP