Bargaining Bulletin #3: Initial talks begin
Dear members,
Last Friday, 30 January we (your bargaining team) met with the administration’s bargaining team for the first time since we initially exchanged proposals on 16 January.
In this meeting we began to set the tone for bargaining on “non-monetary” proposals (see below for what that means). It was a positive meeting, but still exploratory. We have only just begun to get into the substance of the proposals.
We started with responses to the admin team’s questions about CFA proposals. Then we began negotiation of two specific proposals: to (1) establish a joint committee to study our evaluation process and make recommendations for improvements (2) create a “troubleshooter” grievance process that has the potential to dramatically speed up dispute resolution and break the longstanding stalemate on dozens or active disputes between faculty and the administration.
Our next meeting is on 13 February (yes, a Friday the 13th!).
At that meeting the CFA team will pursue agreement on the two proposals above. We also want to begin discussion of the CFA’s proposals on decolonization, justice, equity, diversity and inclusiveness. Our goal is to build momentum by reaching agreement in these areas, before we turn to more contentious subjects like regularization. And, once the admin team has its financial mandate from the B.C. government, we will then move on to benefits improvements, fair pay for non-regulars, and other cost items.
That is our update for now, aside from the background (“bargaining 101-ish”) notes below. We are providing a more detailed briefing, with copies of the actual proposals from both sides of the tale, to your area stewards, for discussion with them. For now we are not publishing all the proposals on the website, because we want to make sure that the area stewards are familiar with the details, and can discuss them with you.
Some background: monetary vs. non-monetary, and financial mandate
We realize “non-monetary proposals” is bargaining jargon. The term means proposals that would change articles of the Collective Agreement without affecting the University’s expenses. (Speaking of the Collective Agreement, we finally have a signed version of the current complete Agreement, attached here.) Whereas monetary proposals, a.k.a. “Cost items” would either increase or decrease the University’s net expenses. Examples:
Increasing the paramedical coverage from $750 per service to $1,500 per service – monetary
Simplifying the regularization process – non-monetary
The admin bargaining committee is not yet willing to discuss monetary proposals, or even to ask questions about them. This is because the B.C. government is still determining how much money to provide to universities and colleges for negotiating–the “financial mandate” for negotiations. We had expected the government to have issued this financial mandate by now, but after the BCGEU negotiations secured more funding than other sectors (health care, teachers) had obtained in their negotiations, the government is reviewing its financial mandate across the public sector.
It is frustrating to not be able to talk about all of our proposals yet. However, the CFA’s list of proposals is extensive, and more than half are non-monetary. (We have 49 proposals, of which 34 are entirely or mostly non-monetary, and 15 are cost items.) At the start of the meeting, the administration commented on the number and depth of the CFA proposals, which is why we spent most of last Friday’s meeting answering their questions.
Many of the admin’s questions were practical ones about the way the Collective Agreement works. We think it was helpful to go through their questions in depth, since the conversation enabled us to ensure all the members of both committees have a shared understanding of how our CA works. This was especially valuable given that the admin’s bargaining team includes representatives from the B.C. government (the “Post-Secondary Employers’ Association”), who of course are not very familiar with our CA.
We are hoping that meeting will be a springboard into more substantive negotiation on Friday the 13th of February. And that our briefing notes to area stewards will be a springboard for discussions among faculty about this round of bargaining.
Onward and upward, in solidarity,
The Bargaining Team
Doug Alards-Tomalin, Dwayne Beaver, Michael Begg, Chelsea Bell Eady, Iris Gordon, Ferdos Jamali, Reini Klein, and FPSE representatives Monica Staff and Robin Wylie