Hi friends,
I wish I had more to report, but since applying for mediation on May 25 (after a marathon midnight bargaining session), we’ve had a very irksome experience with the Employer. The Employer has made itself unavailable to bargain for June and nearly all of July, and has refused to budge–even though it knows that our committee is on vacation during July. It has offered dates, then rescinded them. It said it needed time to answer our questions about costing workload proposals only to take two weeks to say that it wouldn’t answer our questions after all. We’ve told the College that we consider this behaviour disrespectful and an obstacle to a deal–in fact, it’s exactly the sort of horsing around we hope the mediator can put a stop to.
All this to say, we’ve rescheduled vacation dates and booked July 29-31 with the Employer and the mediator, and we hope to be able to close a deal then. We will meet with the mediator separately in advance, and we also have a short mediated costing meeting booked with the Employer and the mediator.
The only sticking point left is how to spend the so-called flex allocation and supplementary funding from the government’s mandate, and we’ve heard you loud and clear: spend it on workload. We’ll take that message to mediation.
While we know members are eager to see this deal inked and dried so that we can receive our much-needed and well-deserved salary increase (and commensurate retro pay), it’s worthwhile to note that we are still far ahead of other locals in our progress at the table. No other Community College is close to settling, and among faculty only Thompson Rivers University and BCIT have signed a deal in our sector. Other tables are looking to settle in September or later. If we didn’t think we were so close, we’d be looking to book fall dates too. But there’s a deal to be made here.
We’re still keen to hear from Faculty as many of you transition towards vacation. Please check out our Open Bargaining Discord. Just email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc if you don’t have access. We’re looking for member input on some Employer proposals, including one about Post-Retirement Contracts. You can read what the Employer has tabled and offer feedback to your bargaining committee.
Gratitude, as always, for your trust and support. It means the world.
In so,
Michael
Michael Stewart
Contract Negotiations Chair, CCFA Executive, Victoria/Lekwungen/W̱SÁNEĆ
Michael Stewart teaches literature, composition, and creative writing in the English Department at Camosun College. He is the former Opinions Editor for rabble.ca, a PhD quitter, and union thug.
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