Following two months of intense bargaining with post-secondary education employers, the FPSE Provincial Bargaining Council is recommending members vote in favour of a new three-year deal.

Following two months of intense bargaining with post-secondary education employers, the FPSE Provincial Bargaining Council is recommending members vote in favour of a new three-year deal.

"The proposed new agreement accomplishes two important things," said Cindy Oliver, President of FPSE. "It aligns our collective agreements with the broader public sector, ensuring that we will be at the bargaining table with over 250,000 public sector workers in 2010 and it ensures that our provincial salary scale increases keep pace with the gains made in public sector bargaining that was completed in 2006," said Oliver.

"Our negotiators worked hard to not only get improvements in the provincial salary scale, but also push back on concession demands at both the provincial and local tables," Oliver added. "This proposed settlement continues to build on the strengths of our common agreement and positions us for further gains in the next round of bargaining," Oliver said.

Highlights of the Proposed Settlement:

• A three year agreement expiring March 31, 2010
• A $4,000 signing bonus for full-time eligible faculty (pro-rata for those less than full-time) if Local agreements settled before March 31, 2007
• A 2.1% per year increase across the scale
• A top of scale salary increase of 2.9% per year. By April 1, 2009, top of scale will rise to $83,231
• A 2.1% lift to secondary scales
• Common Faculty PD funds (0.6%) will roll over each year, allowing unused funds to accumulate rather than be forfeited
• Administrative stipends increased 2.1%/year

Other proposed changes include:

• A Comprehensive Consultation Table with government, PSEA, BCGEU and FPSE to deal with wide range of system issues.
• A $50,000 fund to review existing benefit plans and identify cost savings and the re-allocation for priority benefits.
• The employers' benefit consortium will fund an educational event for employer and union reps to examine disability issues such as duty to accommodate, psychological illness and culpable and non-culpable performance issues.
• Agreement to participate in a Pension Partners' table to discuss Inflation Adjustment and H&W benefits for retirees.
• Increased benefit coverage for eyeglasses.
• An expanded definition of family for Compassionate Care leave.
• Employees on a parental leave given option to return to work on a graduated basis.
• At the end of the agreement access to fiscal dividend.
• Improvements to union leave rights for members of the NVIT Employees' Association.

"The council carefully assessed the options before concluding that this was a proposal worth accepting," said Oliver. "We know that the alternative to this proposal is to reject it and, ultimately, take job action. There are obvious risks in that approach. Members would lose the $4,000 bonus and would be walking a picket line.

The FPSE Bargaining Council believes the proposed settlement is a better alternative and gives us a better position to push for contract improvements in the next round of bargaining," Oliver concluded .

How does the new grid affect your annual salary if you are full time? Find your current step. Follow the calculations across the table below. The figure on the far right will tell you the difference between your annual salary now, and your annual salary at the end of this contract including the effect of any increments you receive.

	now	2007 Apr-01	At incr date	2008 Apr-01	At incr date	2009 Apr-01	At incr date	Diff in annual salary
step 1	76480	78729	78729	80972	80972	83231	83231	6751
step 2	73257	74795	78729	80972	80972	83231	83231	9974
step 3	68238	69671	74795	76366	80972	83231	83231	14993
step 4	65445	66819	69671	71134	76366	77970	83231	17786
step 5	63048	64372	66819	68223	71134	72628	77970	14922
step 6	60651	61925	64372	65724	68223	69655	72628	11977
step 7	58254	59477	61925	63225	65724	67104	69655	11401
step 8	55857	57030	59477	60726	63225	64553	67104	11247
step 9	53460	54583	57030	58228	60726	62002	64553	11093
step 10	51063	52135	54583	55729	58228	59450	62002	10939
step 11	48666	49688	52135	53230	55729	56899	59450	10784