Striking operational staff at the College of New Caledonia will be back on the job Thursday, reopening the college after two days of cancelled classes while union leaders and the government's bargaining team meet to focus on settling a new contract.
Advanced Education Minister John Yap met with the Post-Secondary Employers' Association bargaining team and they agreed to resume negotiations with an improved offer to the 345 support staff at six CNC campuses in northern B.C.
Anita Bleick, CEO of the Post-Secondary Employers' Association, said the province is ready to negotiate with all B.C. colleges that have engaged in job actions this week, however she warns the unions might have to make concessions.
"The PSEA is prepared to come back to the table with a reasonable offer, but unions in this sector need to be willing to stretch if they want to meet the expectations of their members," said Bleick, in an email to The Citizen.
"I am appealing to unions to stand-down this job action and get back to the table so that we can reach negotiated settlements."
CNC's support staff are part of CUPE Local 4951 and the group's president, Lily Bachand, said there is no way her membership, after two years of net-zero wage increases for all B.C. public sector employees, will agree to anything less than their wage demand of a four per cent hike over the next two years.
"Our membership won't settle for less," said Bachand. "It's the only thing left. We don't have anything else to debate. We've done our stretching. I can't believe that [Bleick] is saying that. If she was putting her raises on the line, then let's talk, but she's managed to get them every year. Don't send our members back to work if you don't have the right answer. We're hoping we won't be let down by the government."
CNC has been without a contract since June 2010. Acting on the advice of Ian McLean, CUPE's B.C. college co-ordinator, Bachand said her membership will return to work Thursday despite the reluctance of some CNC staff to agree to that.
"They would like to stay out until the deal is done," said Bachand. "We are, based on good faith, going back in the door. We will be respectful of the big picture and go back to work."
McLean will be in Vancouver today at 1 p.m. to resume negotiations with Bleick and officials from the Public Sector Employers' Council and the Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology ministry, as well as representatives from the colleges' faculty, vocational instructors and support staff.
"We believe the [job] action is what spurred them to open themselves up and have us back at the bargaining table," said McLean. "Hopefully their stretching is in a direction we can all stretch together and they extend their arm into a handshake after we put a deal together. If they're serious about the meeting they will come to the table with an equal offer that was made and has been accepted in our university sector and with other public sector workers."
CUPE support staff remained off the job Wednesday at Camosun College, Vancouver Island University, North Island College, and College of the Rockies. CNC is co-ordinating its job action with that of the other colleges, which will follow McLean's recommendations until the labour dispute is settled.
Support staff represented by the B.C. Government Employees Union held a one-day walkout Monday at the B.C. Institute of Technology and Vancouver Community College. Earlier today, vocational instructors at BCIT announced they'd voted 89 per cent in favour of strike action.
