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 6

Component 6 arrived at bargaining well prepared, with proposals to address a number of key issues, including: 

• improved flexibility on work schedules
• improved language around remote work that includes a fairer distribution of opportunities and assurances that they would not be cancelled arbitrarily
• a defined role for the union in developing a workload measurement tool as recommended by the Representative for Children and Youth. 

Unfortunately, like the other component tables, we were disappointed that the employer was not prepared or willing to engage in meaningful conversations around these important issues.

The bargaining committee was able to renew important memorandums of understanding and update some language around lateral transfer policy for Community Corrections members, but we will be bringing many of our top issues to the main table for consideration there.