A provision negotiated in 2014 public sector collective agreements will see more than 250,000 public sector workers including most HEU members receive a 0.75 per cent wage boost on top of a scheduled wage increase of one per cent in February 2019
The Economic Stability Dividend (ESD) boost is linked to economic growth, and includes HEU members in the facilities, community social services and community health sectors. It also applies to the nurses and health science professional bargaining groups and to the rest of the public sector.
The modest boost is linked to economic performance for B.C. in 2017 and will be effective February 2019. This newly announced adjustment is in addition to any already scheduled wage increases that were negotiated in the 2014-2019 collective agreements.
Members in these sectors already have a scheduled general wage increase of 1.0 per cent in February 2019. They are now instead set for wage increases of 1.75 per cent (1.0 per cent general plus the 0.75 per cent ESD), effective the first pay period in February 2019.
The dividend has paid in each of the last four years, and has meant an additional 1.95 per cent in wage increases to members in these sectors over general wage increases.
The ESD is calculated as 50 per cent of the difference between forecast growth numbers (2.3 per cent) and actual growth in the economy (3.8 per cent). So in 2017, actual growth outpaced forecast growth by 1.5 per cent resulting in the 0.75 per cent ESD. It was included in public sector contracts as part of the public sector bargaining mandate in 2014.
The adjusted wage schedules will be posted in the bargaining section of www.heu.org as soon as they are available. The 2017 growth statistics and ESD amount was announced on November 8, 2018.