2022-2025 Collective Agreement FAQ

You bet we did!

• Effective April 1, 2022, all CCFA members received a $455 flat-rate increase to their annual salary. This new salary amount was increased by a further 3.24%
• Effective April 1, 2023, all CCFA members received a further 6.75% increase to their annual salary
• Effective April 1, 2024, all CCFA members will receive a further 2% increase to their annual salary. If the average annual Consumer Price Index in B.C. exceeds 2% in April 2024, this raise will be increased to a maximum of 3%. As of July 2023, the average annual CPI was 5.6%.

These raises affect all CCFA members, including substitutes and term faculty.

Because of our extensive pressure on the Employer, all eligible employees, including retired faculty, should have received their retro pat from the 2022-2025 Collective Agreement. If you did not receive it and think you are eligible, , or if the amount was incorrect, contact ac.ytlucafnusomac@gniniagrab as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the deadline to apply for retroactive pay has now passed and the Employer is not accepting any late applications. Make sure that you also fill out the CCFA Member Details Form on our website in order to keep abreast of future updates.

If you worked at the College at some point between April 1, 2022 and September 1, 2023, you are entitled to retroactive compensation. As part of paying out back pay, the College will remit additional pension contributions on your behalf, and the Pension Corporation will need to adjust your pension accordingly. If you do not see any adjustment due to the retro pay by March 31, 2024, please email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc and we will make further inquiries.

Term Faculty now need to complete term appointments of at least eight weeks of full-time equivalent employment in each of two semesters in each of two consecutive years. The resulting employment must amount to at least 32 weeks (for example, four semesters) for an average workload of at least 50% in each year.

For instructional term faculty, this means an instructor who taught 50% in the Fall and 100% in a compressed term (for example, a course running only in May and June) for two years in a row now qualifies for 50% regularization, provided there is prospective work available over the next year. Previously, contracts that ran fewer than 12 weeks, despite how common they are, did not count towards regularization.

If you think you might be eligible but aren’t sure, email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc to find out!

We believe this means it will be easier for many term faculty, some of whom have been working regular patterns at the College for years, to finally secure the regularization and job security they deserve. In many cases, they will be eligible immediately upon ratification.

Because the threshold is now 50% over 16 weeks instead of 40% over 12 weeks, in some rare cases, term faculty members who would have qualified under the old equation might not qualify under the new one. In these rare cases, we negotiated a legacy provision that states if a term faculty member’s first qualifying semester began before the ratification of this agreement, they are eligible to apply for regularization using either the new or old language.

Email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc if you have any questions about your eligibility!

Your drug card is part of your pay-direct drug plan. Show your CCFA drug card to your pharmacist whenever you fill out a prescription for yourself or one of your dependents. They will tell you immediately what portion of the prescription cost is covered by our drug plan. There is no need to save receipts or wait for the reimbursement to arrive. Your drug card is accepted by virtually every pharmacy in Canada.

• Sign in to your Manulife account at https://www.manulife.ca/personal/sign-in.html
• Select the CCFA Plan to complete the sign-in process
• Select “My Benefits Card” from the available options:

• Click on the Benefits Card Thumbnail. A pop-up window will appear. You can print this image out for a physical card or take a screenshot with your phone. You can use this Card as your Pay Direct Drug Card at virtually any pharmacy in Canada, or anywhere you need your Benefits information.
  
  The pharmacist may ask you for a “Carrier ID”; the carrier code for Manulife is 02. This information can now be found on your Drug Card (previously, it was absent).

Our drug plan covers all generic prescription drugs and any drugs that don’t have a generic equivalent. In most cases, the pharmacist will automatically substitute a generic drug for a prescribed brand-name medication. Make sure both the doctor giving the prescription and your pharmacist know you have a drug plan with generic substitution. If a generic drug will not produce the desired results, ensure your prescribing doctor indicates “no substitutions” on the prescription.

Our drug card can be used for prescription drugs or other covered drug products (such as some diabetic supplies). Other health care claims should be sent to Manulife Financial for processing. Claim forms are available online at www.manulife.ca/groupbenefits.

The Drug Card is part of the CCFA’s extended health plan, so if you have a term contract (or more than one) longer than one month, you qualify for the drug card.

All information on what is covered by our extended health benefits and how much we pay in premiums can be found on our Member Resource page. Once we receive an updated Benefit Booklet, we will post it, but in the meantime, you can see all the changes here.

Our new Extended Health Plan (see all the changes here) is now live!

If you have already made a claim for a treatment that occurred Sept 1 or later and is now eligible for more funding because of the changes to our plan (for example, the increase to counselling services), you can call Manulife’s general support line at 1-800-268-6195 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST, Mon. to Fri.) to have your claim adjusted.

If you made a claim for a treatment that occurred Sept 1 or later and it was rejected because our new Extended Health Benefits were not yet updated, your best course of action is to call the above General Inquiry line and ask to have the claim re-adjudicated. If you try to resubmit the claim online, it will be rejected as a duplicate claim. You can try to select the “service not listed” option when resubmitting the claim and you may have success, but the best option is to call the inquiry line.

If you used services but did not make a claim because you thought your funds were already used up, you can make a claim as usual through its website.

In fact, it doubled! We now enjoy $3000 household coverage per member for psychological services (psychologists and clinical counsellors), up from $1500. Furthermore, the employer now covers all the premium costs associated with this benefit (previously, we shared it).

Term faculty are eligible for all of the above improvements to the CCFA’s Extended Health Plan, as long as they have a term contract (or more than one) longer than one month. In addition, any term faculty member with employment of at least 50% full-time equivalent for at least 16 weeks now qualifies for dental coverage!

Previously, members could only cover up to $20 for their first five visits to a professional service covered by extended health, like massage therapy, chiropractic, physiotherapy, and naturopathy. Those per-visit maximums have been removed, meaning your first and any subsequent visit can be fully covered, provided you still have coverage remaining.

Our CCFA health plan covers up to $30,000 lifetime coverage co-ordinated with the B.C. provincial health plan, for surgical procedures such as Adam’s apple reductions, cheek augmentation or breast augmentation, as well as non-surgical treatments such as voice training for transgender care.

We are delighted to say: yes! Because Gender Affirming Care is now part of our Extended Health Plan (which applies to dependents), your dependents are eligible for this benefit. However, the $30,000 coverage is a global limit for you and all dependents collectively, not a per-individual limit.

Gender Affirming Coverage is part of the CCFA’s extended health plan, so if you have a term contract (or more than one) longer than one month, you qualify for this benefit.

Our Health Care Spending Account (not to be confused with the Lifestyle and Wellness Spending Account described below) is a $400 per member fund that can be used to “top-up” standard benefits to pay for outstanding amounts, deductibles or dispensing fees. For example, if you purchase prescription eyewear in excess of the $650 allotted, you can use our HCSA to pay the difference.

The HCSA may also cover medical expenses that aren’t covered by the B.C. provincial plan or our standard insurance plan (e.g., sight and hearing guide dog expenses, special equipment for persons with disabilities, some cosmetic surgeries).

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) maintains a guide and a list of medical expenses (PDF) on the Canada Revenue Agency website. Medical expenses that meet CRA’s definition are typically reimbursable (in whole or in part) from a plan member’s HCSA.

The Health Care Spending Account is now ready to access. You will see it on the Claims page on Manulife’s website.

If your claim will be fully covered by our Extended Health Plan (for example, a Counselling appointment that occurred well before your $3000 coverage is used up), select the first option: my Health or Dental Plan.

If your claim will be partially covered by our Extended Health Plan and you would like to “top-up” your coverage with your HCSA (for example, eyeglasses that exceed the $650 allotted every two years), select the second option: my Health or Dental plan first, and any remaining balance from my Health Care Spending Account.

If your claim would not be covered by our Extended Health Plan but is eligible for the HCSA (for example, a Shingles vaccine–see above for guidelines on what is eligible), select the third option: my Health Care Spending Account only.

As an Extended Health Benefit, the HCSA has an effective start date of September 1, 2023. That means any health services that would be covered by an HCSA that you paid for out-of-pocket are eligible to be covered. In most cases, you can file the claim as above on Manulife’s website. In some cases, you may need to call Manulife’s general support line at 1-800-268-6195 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST, Mon. to Fri.) to have your claim adjusted.

Any unused funds in the HCSA can be banked for a maximum of one year. After that, any unused funds from the previous year are forfeited.

The HCSA is part of the CCFA’s extended health plan, so if you have a term contract (or more than one) longer than one month, you qualify for this benefit.

The Lifestyle and Wellness Spending Account (not to be confused with the Health Spending Account described above) is a one-time, non-renewable fund of $250 to encourage habits of wellness and increase our members’ physical and mental health. NB. This amount was previously communicated as $375, but the amount was adjusted to ensure an equitable distribution and ensure that as many members as possible could access the fund.

A lot! The fund covers anything agreed to by the Employer and the CCFA, but here are some examples we agreed to:

• Membership and/or admission to fitness facilities;
• Textbooks and/or related media on health and/or wellness related topics;
• Smoking cessation, weight loss or addictions programs;
• Classes/courses for health/wellness enhancement or for personal or professional development;
• Fitness Instruction/ Personal Trainers;
• Admission fees for races and fitness activities;
• Fitness trackers and app subscription, such as Fitbit or MyFitnessPal, and other technology;
• Consultation session(s) with a Registered Dietitian or Nutritionist; Meditation/Mindfulness classes or programs;
• Active wear and sports equipment;
• Artistic and Cultural activities, courses and supplies; and
• For other lifestyle or wellness purposes, as agreed by the Employer and Union.

Full instructions on how to apply can be found here.

No. It is a one-time fund and must be used up before March 21, 2025 (although we expect it to be depleted long before that!).

The amount of the spending account ($250) was calculated so that nearly every member would be able to access the fund. Every single eligible member will be able to access it. However, we want to make sure we use the entire allotted money. If there is unused money in the fund by August 31, 2024, we will open the application process again to allow applications for a further $125 (up to a total of $375). The fund is finite. Once the total amount (approximately $152,000) is used up, any subsequent applications will be denied.

NB. This amount was previously communicated as $375, but the amount was adjusted to ensure an equitable distribution and ensure that as many members as possible could access the fund.

If you had a term faculty contract on the date of ratification, Sept 21, 2023, you are eligible for this benefit.

CCFA members who do not register for their annual parking pass taxable benefit before September 30 are eligible for an annual Pro Pass with Victoria Regional Transit System at no cost (but nothing in bargaining is free!). All of the subsidy options are explained here: The New Alternative Transportation Program is Live!

Yes! CCFA members who agree to accept a “Flex Parking Pass,” which allows us to park on campus 10 working days per month, will receive a 50% subsidy on their Victoria Regional Transit System Pro Pass.

Once you opt-out of the parking pass and the Sept. 30 deadline passes, you cannot opt back in. (There will be an exception in the September 2023 Fall term due to the delay caused by ratification.)

All of the subsidy options and how to obtain your ProPass (using the UMO Tap Card or Smartphone App) are explained here: The New Alternative Transportation Program is Live!

We were unable to secure this benefit for term instructors during this round of bargaining. If you are term faculty and would love access to this benefit, email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc and let us know so we can bring it to the bargaining table next round.

We hope so! We have allotted $80,000 per year to fund this pilot project. Requests will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis but once that money is exhausted, subsequent applications will be denied. In the event that this initiative becomes more popular, we will renegotiate with the employer to ensure our climate goals are met.