Today marks the end of the first week of public service bargaining.

Please check out this important video message from BCGEU President and Chair of the Public Service Bargaining Committee Paul Finch. 

In the video, Paul provides an update from the bargaining table, explains where we are in the bargaining process, and elaborates on some of the key issues for members this round, such as the removal of the job classification system and the development of a rapid grievance tribunal system.

Component agreements can cover issues that have some monetary implications, however – in a change from previous rounds of bargaining – at no component table would the PSA agree to discuss any items that were remotely monetary, insisting on referring them to the main table.

The negotiations were respectful but not highly productive: we went to the table very prepared but were disappointed the employer was not willing to engage on most proposals, including those that were not explicitly monetary.

We will make sure that important component issues are followed through upon at the main agreement table in the coming weeks.

Below is a summary of significant negotiated changes at your component bargaining table.
 

Component 12 

Engagement from administrative professionals ahead of this round of bargaining saw a record number of proposals submitted from component 12 members. Your proposals and input gave us a mandate to make it clear to the employer that administrative professionals will no longer be left behind and deserve to be treated equally, with the respect we deserve.

Instead of taking the opportunity to demonstrate they value the work of us as administrative professionals, the employer was not willing to engage in meaningful discussion or solutions based on the priority issues that you identified. Of the dozens of proposals we brought, the employer agreed to zero substantive proposals on our key non-monetary issues.

We offered many possible solutions to address workload, equal access to telework, modified work weeks and flexible work arrangements. We had also hoped to have meaningful discussion on support and access to training and career development opportunities as well as health and safety concerns.

We expressed our disappointment and even offered to utilize the space and time to discuss outstanding issues within the ministries, like hours of work agreements and implementation of modified work weeks, but the employer did not wish to address them. As a result, 23 of our proposals have now been referred to the main table.

Despite the lack of meaningful progress during component bargaining, your component bargaining committee remains committed to ensuring the differential and disproportionate treatment administrative professionals are facing get addressed.