News
Read the latest news in BC post-secondary education.
Pension changes raise concerns
The College Pension Plan has announced that it will stop subsidizing extended health benefits for retirees and will also cap inflation protection in the near future. The announcement follows a decision by the College Pension Plan Board to press ahead with these changes despite an appeal from Presidents’ Council to give Pension Plan Partners the…
Next 46 days will be critical
The new year brings more than the promise of better weather or the prospect of longer days. Within the next forty-six days, both the provincial and federal governments will be tabling budgets. The federal budget is slated for January 27th and the provincial budget will be presented three weeks later on February 17th. Both budgets…
Auditor’s report details problems in trades training
It didn’t take BC’s Auditor General John Doyle much time to point out the obvious. The first page of his 60-plus page review of BC’s Industry Training Authority (ITA) summarizes in three sentences what post-secondary educators and the rest of the labour movement have been saying for six years: the ITA has been a terrible…
Finance committee report shows some progress, but there’s still a lot missing in the recommendations
For the last three months, BC’s Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services has been gathering input from across the province in advance of the February 2009 provincial budget. The pre-budget consultation provides an important opportunity for activists, citizens and advocacy groups to make a case for what should be the priorities in the next…
Municipal elections: make your vote count
Across BC, municipal election campaigns have moved into high gear as voters get ready to mark their ballots on November 15th. For some voters the prospect of yet another election is a bit bewildering. In Vancouver, for example, there have been three elections in the last month: a federal election in mid-October, provincial by-elections in…
Fair Employment Week, October 27-31, 2008
Across Canada, post-secondary educators are marking this week as Fair Employment Week. Faculty and staff in every region are working to build awareness and support for our push to get better employment, salary and benefit protections for non-regular faculty members. The problem that non-regular faculty face is not something that affects just a few. In…
First agreement at private language school: FPSE’s organizing strategy at work
This week faculty at the recently organized Language Studies Canada (LSC) unanimously ratified a tentative collective agreement. The two-year agreement was negotiated by representatives from the LSC faculty along with the help of a Labour Relations Staff Representative from FPSE. “It’s an important first step for this newly organized faculty group,” said Cindy Oliver, President…
Cranbrook newspaper highlights problems at College of the Rockies
By Gerry Warner, Townsman Staff There were some touching moments and some interesting revelations at a meeting of the provincial Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services in Cranbrook Tuesday. The committee has been traveling the province since Sept. 15 hearing input from a wide variety of individuals and organizations on what they feel…
Invest budget surplus says FPSE President
Post-secondary operating grants are not keeping pace with basic needs says Cindy Oliver “BC has the fiscal capacity to strengthen access to post-secondary education,” said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, “but for the last seven years the provincial government has underfunded basic needs in our post-secondary institutions. The February 2009 provincial…