Bargaining Bulletin #11

Oct. 6, 2011

To: Heads Up – Vancouver and Okanagan
From: Lisa Castle, AVP, Human Resources
Cc: HR Advisors & Associates
Re: Bargaining Bulletin #11 – Collective Bargaining 2010/11 Update

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide you with an update on developments in collective bargaining at UBC. An overview of collective bargaining (including information on the bargaining units) is available at http://www.hr.ubc.ca/collective-bargaining/.

Since I last updated you in June, after a summer break we have been at the bargaining table in the last month with the unions for some of the outstanding 6 agreements.

For BCGEU at the Okanagan campus, we continued to have productive sessions, and are hopefully in the final stages of bargaining for a new agreement that will expire on June 30, 2012. We meet again today.

BCGEU bargaining at the Vancouver campus continued the first two days of this week and two more days are scheduled for Oct. 24 and 25.

We met once with CUPE 2278 (Component 1) on Tuesday, and are looking for more dates this fall.

CUPE 2278 (Component 2) returned to the bargaining table today, and we are hoping to schedule more dates shortly.

The bargaining break with CUPE 116 extended into this month (with the exception of a couple of dates for issues in Food Services), and we don’t return to the table until Oct. 26 (again, Food Services) and 27. A separate set of negotiations for the Aquatic Centre has commenced with the exchange of proposals, and the parties are working to schedule one day in October and another in November.

We have not met with CUPE 2950 since May 4. In response to a request from the University, the Union has indicated it is prepared to resume bargaining starting Oct. 19.

As mentioned in Bargaining Bulletin #10, it appears that CUPE is waiting to see what happens this fall with the BC Teachers Federation and the Provincial Government, as well as any shifts in provincial politics. While the Provincial Government has expressed its firm commitment to the next zero mandate for the 2010-2012 period, the Throne Speech on Monday this week signaled the bargaining mandate for 2012:

“Two years ago, the government set a net zero mandate for public sector labour negotiations. Working with B.C.’s public sector labour leadership, the government secured agreements covering the majority of employees. At that time, it was hoped by both sides the global economy would rebound; that stronger economic growth would take place providing greater financial flexibility. [...]

“While government continues to hold negotiations with the B.C. Teachers Federation based on the previous mandate, we have also begun to turn our minds to the contracts that expire in the spring of 2012.

“Though taxpayer-funded public sector wage increases will be challenging to achieve, and must fit within the fiscal plan, your government understands that public servants need to be treated fairly. This requires being creative in how resources are identified for any improvements in collective agreements. Therefore, the government will facilitate a process for collective agreement improvements by working with ministries and employer groups to find savings through cooperative gains. The government will be asking public sector employers, unions and employees to join in this process.”

We look forward to discussions with PSEC in the next couple of months so that we have greater clarity on these statements.

Thank you for your interest. We will continue to provide updates as the process unfolds.

We wish you a warm Thanksgiving.

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