Bargaining Bulletin #24

March 29, 2012

To: Heads Up – Vancouver and Okanagan
From: Lisa Castle, AVP, Human Resources
Cc: HR Advisors & Associates
Re: Bargaining Bulletin #24 – 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/.

As we advised you in Bargaining Bulletin #21, we returned to the bargaining table with CUPE 2278 (TAs, tutors and markers) on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. The parties had a good and candid discussion about outstanding issues, the Provincial Government’s bargaining mandates for 2010 and 2012, the University’s concerns about inaccuracy of information on the Union’s website, and the Union’s strike vote. The Union acknowledged that while their strike vote is valid for three months from March 23, their real window of opportunity is a much shorter time frame. It realistically comprises the end of classes next week and the exam period. The Union was non-committal as to whether, how and when it intended to engage in job action.

We are scheduled to continue negotiations today with CUPE 2278 Component 2 (English language instructors in Continuing Studies.

As an update on progress of the University’s ratification of the BCGEU agreement for child care workers (Bargaining Bulletin #23), we are pleased to confirm that the agreement has received approval today from the University Public Sector Employers’ Association (UPSEA), and is proceeding to the Board of Governors next week.

Thank you for your interest. We expect that we will be providing information more frequently in the coming weeks as this process unfolds.

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