Colleges reach template agreement

CISSBA committee members include Lily Bachand, Marcela Popovici, Marcel Beerken, Nicki Pearson, Michelle Waite, Juanita Fraser, Pam Catsirelis, Ryan Cousineau, Deborah Hopper, Richard Schaeffer, John Ross and spokespeople Ian McLean and Linsay Buss.

The Colleges and Institutes Support Staff Bargaining Association (CISSBA) reached a template agreement at the end of last week. This agreement now forms the basis for local bargaining. Going forward, locals will go to the table to address local issues and concerns.

Highlights

Highlights of the template agreement include:

• 5 year agreement, expires June 30, 2019
• 5.5% plus Economic Stability Dividend
• a provincial joint committee to review the job evaluation/classification plan
• a joint request from the Post Secondary Employers’ Association (PSEA) and CISSBA to the Ministry of Advanced Education to include representation from the support staff unions in the consultation process re: shared service delivery (Administrative Service Delivery Transformation Project)
• a letter to begin a consultation process for a common provincial agreement

Pharmacare Drug Formulary changes

The Pharmacare Drug Formulary has been an ongoing issue for college support staff members. Although negotiations did not yield a return to the previous prescription drug plan, the bargaining committee unanimously agreed that the following changes are a good start to addressing formulary concerns:

• 50% reimbursement for non-formulary drugs; 100% for formulary drugs will afford the opportunity to get reimbursed for drugs currently not covered (effective November 1, 2015)
• Retroactive reimbursement for process delays
• a transition period for members on drugs de-listed (effective upon ratification)
• a joint steering committee to manage ongoing problems with the process and the insurance carrier

In this restrictive mandate, the bargaining committee was able to bring the employers to a provincial table to resolve some of members’ largest concerns – without concessions. Locals now have the opportunity to address their individual issues at their local tables.

CISSBA represents college support staff workers at BCIT; College of New Caledonia; College of the Rockies; Douglas College; Justice Institute of BC; Kwantlen Polytechnic University; North Island College; Northern Lights College; Northwest Community College; Okanagan College; and Vancouver Island University.

cope491