
Public service bargaining kicked off yesterday in Victoria, where our union met with your employer – B.C.’s Public Service Agency (PSA) – to exchange bargaining proposals. This round of bargaining is aimed at reaching a new collective agreement for you and more than 34,000 other public service workers employed in every community across the province. Our current collective agreement is set to expire March 31, 2025.
When the two parties first met at the bargaining table, Paul Finch, BCGEU president and chair of the BCGEU Public Service Bargaining committee, delivered opening remarks:
“We understand the affordability crisis our members are in, and that there are chronic recruitment and retention issues. I don't need to tell anyone here about how the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis with sheriffs and court workers has hurt the administration of justice. I could go on, there's a lot of other important and noteworthy groups that have been impacted by this.”
In his opening statements, Finch outlined the key priorities of the union in this round of bargaining: compensation that reflects the needs of a membership impacted by the affordability crisis; reasonable benefit improvements; removing the job classification system and securing all existing market adjustments and bonuses into base pay; and a rapid grievance tribunal system to ensure quick resolutions to minor disputes in contract administration.
This week, the employer and our union are sharing our respective language proposals with each other, while all proposals of a monetary nature will be exchanged later in the bargaining process.
In the coming days the two sides will exchange initial responses to each other’s proposals. Main table negotiations are currently scheduled through the end of February, so be sure to keep an eye on your inbox as you can expect to receive regular bargaining updates throughout negotiations.
In the News:
- B.C. negotiating public service contracts for 400,000 union workers (CBC)
- Bargaining kicks off for public sector workers (CBC: The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn)
- Contract negotiations begin for 34,000 BCGEU members (Global News)
- B.C. union leader says 'high probability' of dispute in public sector contract talks (CTV News)
In solidarity,
Your Public Service Bargaining Committee
Paul Finch, President and Committee Chair
Maria Bennett, Treasurer
Dean Purdy, Component 1 Vice-President
Kusam Doal, Component 5 Vice-President
Judy Fox-McGuire, Component 6 Vice-President
Mona Dykes, Component 6 Second Representative
DJ Pohl, Component 12 Vice-President
Faith Johnston, Component 12 1st Vice-President
Robert Davis, Component 20 Vice-President
Douglas W. Dykens, Executive Director – Advocacy, Negotiations, Member
Benefits and secretary to the PSBC
Larisa Mills, Staff Representative
Sumiko Marshall, Support Staff
UWU/MoveUP
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