The Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) and the Community Social Services Employers’ Association (CSSEA) have met 50 times since bargaining began to negotiate a renewed collective agreement covering more than 23,000 health care workers, including about 1,500 HEU members.
Negotiations continue to be productive, but there’s still a lot of difficult work ahead.
The parties have reached agreement on several key non-monetary improvements, such as enhanced bullying and harassment language which includes a clear definition of “lateral violence”, and the employer received the CSSBA’s monetary package on October 3.
Since then, there have been five more days of bargaining for the main community social services agreement, which covers all workers in Community Living, General Services, and Indigenous Services.
The multi-union bargaining association anticipates the CSSEA’s counter-response to monetary proposals by the week of November 18. Contract negotiation dates are scheduled into January.
Public sector update
Work to secure sector agreements continues across the broader public service. The 34,000 members of the BC General Employees’ Union are now voting on the tentative deal their union secured on October 26, while members of the Professional Employees Association paused job action to return to the bargaining table on October 27.
The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) is moving ahead with a strike vote this month for their members after reaching an impasse with employers in early October. Negotiations continue at other major health care, social services, and K-12 education sector tables.
It’s important to note that the CBA is a different health sector, and does not impact the CSSBA negotiations.
HEU’s 1,500 CSSBA members are represented on the bargaining team by members David Huespe, Brenda Orencia and Cheryl McLachlan, and staff spokesperson Christina Lloyd-Jones with alternate Shawna Lockhart.
Stay informed
To ensure you have the most current and accurate information about contract negotiations, read the public sector bargaining updates here on the HEU website.
HEU members are encouraged to keep their contact information updated to stay informed on the bargaining process.
The Community Social Services Bargaining Association includes BCGEU (the lead), CUPE, HEU (1,500 members), LiUNA, HSA, CLAC, USW, UFCW, and BCNU, covering 23,000 health care workers across the province.