Major progress in labour negotiations as talks continue

As of Oct. 3, negotiating teams from the University of Victoria and CUPE campus locals 917 and 951 were still involved in bargaining. The parties had returned to the bargaining table during the week of Sept. 18 to address a variety of the non-monetary issues remaining from their last bargaining session in June.

“We were pleased to be back at the table,” says Kane Kilbey, UVic’s associate vice-president human resources. “We made great progress in a very short time. In the first week we signed off more than 20 pages of non-monetary items with CUPE 951.” Kilbey says that the university also inked more than 20 pages with CUPE 917 during five days of bargaining, with a sixth day scheduled to deal with the remaining non-monetary items.

CUPE 917 represents athletic department, food services, grounds maintenance and janitorial employees, security officers and trades people, while CUPE 951 represents office employees, library assistants, technicians and child care workers.

The university and representatives of CUPE 4163 (Components 1 and 2), representing teaching assistants and English language instructors, also settled several outstanding non-monetary items in their negotiations last month. To date, members of CUPE 4163 have not taken a strike vote and are not in a legal position to take job action.

CUPE local 951 has implemented an overtime ban and work-to-rule campaign, and both locals have been involved in rotating pickets at a number of campus buildings since moving into a position to take legal job action on Sept. 5. The two locals have suspended picketing while talks are under way.

In June, the university put an offer on the table including 2 per cent on July 1, 2012 and 1.5 per cent on April 1, 2013, and committed to continue the strong job security provisions in the existing agreements.

The provincial government and BCGEU announced a tentative agreement on Sept. 28, which provides for a 4 per cent wage increase over two years and continues existing job security provisions. The agreement is currently undergoing ratification.

“With the BCGEU agreement settled, the union and university are identifying bargaining dates this month to address the monetary issues. We are looking forward to tackling these together and getting an agreement,” says Kilbey.

This fall the university is also involved in bargaining with the Professional Employees’ Association and expects to begin bargaining with CUPE 4163 (Component 3) representing sessional instructors in the coming weeks. The university and the Faculty Association have mediation scheduled later in October.

The latest updates on the status of negotiations and job action can be found at www.uvic.ca/info/jobaction/ and www.uvic.ca/info/bargaining/index.php