Collective Bargaining 2022

BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) is the accredited bargaining agent for the province’s 60 boards of education for unionized teaching staff. The BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) is the certified bargaining agent for BC’s public school teachers.

  • The Provincial Collective Agreement between BCPSEA and the BCTF expired on June 30, 2022.
  • Bargaining for a renewed Provincial Collective Agreement for teachers began on March 15, 2022.
  • Tentative agreement was reached on October 28, 2022.
  • The renewed Provincial Collective Agreement was ratified by both parties on November 30, 2022.

For further information about 2022 collective bargaining in the K-12 sector please see Collective Bargaining 2022 – Backgrounder – Process and Timeline.

Updates

November 30, 2022

BCPSEA members and BCTF members ratify collective agreement

Members of both the BC Public School Employers’ Association and the BC Teachers’ Federation have ratified the collective agreement that covers nearly 49,000 teachers who deliver education to students in the province’s 60 public school districts.

Bargaining for a provincial teachers’ collective agreement began on March 15, 2022, following protocol discussions in February 2022. The parties met a total of 47 times during this round of bargaining. On Friday, October 28, 2022, BCPSEA and the BCTF reached a tentative agreement under the Province’s Shared Recovery Mandate. On November 30, 2022, the agreement was ratified by both parties.

Agreement highlights:

Term
The term of the collective agreement is three (3) years: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2025.

Wages
Year 1:

  • $427 added to each step of the grid
  • plus an additional 3.24% general wage increase
  • eliminate the bottom step of all grids

Year 2:

  • 5.5% general wage increase
  • plus up to an additional 1.25% COLA, subject to specific criteria
  • add 0.3% to the top step of all grids

Year 3:

  • 2% general wage increase
  • plus up to an additional 1.0% COLA, subject to specific criteria
  • add 0.11% to the top step of all grids

Benefits
Add registered clinical counsellors and registered social workers to the existing psychologist coverage and increase the combined total to $1200 per year. Increase chiropractic, RMT, physio and acupuncture to $1000 per year.

Maternity/Pregnancy Supplemental Employment Benefits
All school districts (except SD51 Boundary) will move to providing employees on maternity leave:

  • 100% of salary for the first week of the leave; and
  • Top-up to 100% of salary for a further 15 weeks, where the employee is in receipt of maternity Employment Insurance

Preparation time
Starting next school year (2023-2024), elementary prep time will increase by 10 minutes, bringing the total amount to 120 minutes per week.

Employment equity – Indigenous peoples
The provincial parties will encourage and assist boards of education, with the support of local teachers’ unions, to make application to the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (OHRC) under section 42 of the Human Rights Code to obtain approval for a “special program” that would serve to attract and retain Indigenous employees. The provincial parties recommend including layoff protection in such applications.

Employment equity – Groups that face disadvantage
The provincial parties will encourage and assist boards of education, with the support of local teachers’ unions, to make application to the OHRC to obtain approval for a “special program” that would serve to attract and retain employees from groups that face disadvantage as recognized by the OHRC.

Harassment/Sexual Harassment
Article E.2 has been significantly revised, with the most notable changes made to the ‘informal’ processes. E.2.5 Informal Resolution Outcomes has been deleted and E.2.3.a Step 1 Informal Resolution Process has been updated.

Professional Development Funding
Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, a minimum funding amount of one-fifth of one-percent (0.2%) of Category six maximum step, multiplied by total teacher FTE will be introduced.

Committees

  • Committee to discuss Indigenous Peoples recognition and Reconciliation will commence within two months of ratification. Representatives from the First Nations Education Steering Committee will be invited to participate and were consulted prior to the creation of the committee.
  • Tri-partite sub-committee to review the split-of-issues will commence within three months of ratification and will include representatives from the Provincial Government.
  • Review of the local bargaining trial procedure will commence within six months of ratification.

October 31, 2022

Tentative agreement reached for teachers in BC K-12 public education

The BC Public School Employers’ Association has reached a tentative agreement with the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) under the Province’s Shared Recovery Mandate.

“Teachers play an incredibly important role in the lives of their students and their communities. The dedication of teachers throughout the pandemic has brought much needed support to so many families. We are pleased to have negotiated a tentative collective agreement that will continue supporting teachers into the future,” said Leanne Bowes, Executive Director, Labour Relations (Collective Bargaining), BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA).

In Kindergarten to Grade 12 public education in BC there are nearly 49,000 teachers, represented by the BCTF, who provide education to 570,000 students in the province’s 60 school districts.

Bargaining for a provincial teachers’ collective agreement began on March 15, 2022. Since that time, the parties met a total of 47 times. Tentative agreement was reached on Friday, October 28, 2022.

“We are truly pleased to have successfully negotiated this agreement with the BCTF. We greatly appreciate our productive and respectful working relationship,” said Bowes. “We look forward to continuing to work together under a renewed collective agreement.”

The next step in the process is ratifications by both BCPSEA members (BCPSEA Board and Trustee Representatives) and BCTF members (teachers). It is anticipated that ratification will take several weeks.

Details of the agreement will be made available once the tentative agreement is ratified by the members of both parties.

August 22, 2022

BCPSEA and the BCTF met again the week of August 15, 2022. On Thursday, August 18, 2022, BCPSEA tabled the second wage proposal to be made under the Shared Recovery Mandate. We are pleased that the BCTF have tabled a counterproposal to our second wage proposal. Proposals and counterproposals are important aspects of the bargaining process that occur in all rounds of productive and collaborative negotiations.

BCPSEA is now in the position of being able to consider the BCTF’s counterproposal. BCPSEA is also in the process of bargaining with support staff unions in the CUPE BC K-12 Presidents’ Council; therefore, the BCTF have agreed to dates in late September with the shared expectation that more will be scheduled soon, as was discussed at the table.

We appreciate the collegial working relationship we have with the BCTF and are committed to continuing this important work at the bargaining table.

June 30, 2022

BCPSEA and the BCTF have been bargaining since March 15, 2022. All proposals were tabled and discussed. In total, we have reached agreement on seven items.

While the collective agreement expires today, June 30, 2022, the parties are both committed to continue bargaining. BCPSEA and BCTF will be meeting again the week of August 15th for further bargaining sessions.

We appreciate the positive working relationship we have with the BCTF and look forward to continuing the work at the bargaining table.

May 18, 2022

All initial proposals from BCPSEA and BCTF have been tabled. Discussions on these proposals are underway. There is a collegial tone at the table as we take the time to understand the purpose of each proposal.

Negotiations will continue on tabled proposals. We anticipate bargaining three times a week until the end of the school year.

April 14, 2022

BCPSEA and the BCTF commenced bargaining on March 15, 2022, and we have been meeting regularly since. We are still in the process of exchanging initial bargaining proposals. Good progress has been made, with most proposals now exchanged. We appreciate the collegial nature of the table.

This week we are concluding the initial exchange of proposals. Notices to end practice (estoppels) will be served by April 28, 2022.

There are no bargaining sessions planned for next week; however, we generally plan on maintaining a three day a week bargaining schedule through to June 30, 2022.