BC Labour Relations Board sides with CUPE 3338 in claim against the university
By Alison Roach
Photos by Mark Burnham
Last Monday, the BC Labour Relations Board (LRB) ruled that SFU is guilty of bargaining in bad faith with local union CUPE 3338. The union includes clerical workers, support staff, library workers, cleaning staff, and food and beverage service workers at SFSS services. CUPE 3338 first filed the claim against SFU with the BC Labour Relations Board last fall.
Back in October of 2010, CUPE 3338 and SFU signed a protocol agreement which restricted the parties from putting any new proposals on the bargaining table from that time on. In the proposals exchanged after that agreement, neither party mentioned changes to the University Pension Plan. However, in November of last year during mediations, the university put proposed amendments to the Pension Plan on the table for bargaining.
Also problematic is the fact that the Pension Plan is not administered within CUPE 3338’s collective agreement, but with a separate committee — the Employee’s Joint Pension Committee (EJPC) — that has a representative from each union and association on campus. The Pension Plan itself is in financial crisis, and is now reportedly more than $64.5 million in the red. In an attempt to fix these issues, university representative Dario Nonis stated in an email to the EJPC that the university “would not be considering matters of compensation such as a salary increase in isolation from the pension issue. The pension problem has to be addressed first.”
After receiving legal opinion, CUPE 3338 stated in a Dec. 6, 2012 letter to President Petter that “the Union cannot unilaterally negotiate amendments to the Pension Plan, or withdraw its members from the Pension Plan, without the consent of the other bargaining agent members of the Pension Plan.”
This left the two parties at an impasse, with the university’s offers to CUPE 3338 all addressing changes to the Pension Plan, and CUPE 3338 unable to respond to these changes. In their official decision, the LRB found the university’s attempt to keep the Pension Plan on the bargaining table a breach of the Labour Relations Code.
In an interview with The Peak, CUPE 3338 business agent John Bannister stated that the union is prepared to deal with the pension issue, but after bargaining issues have been resolved. Bannister went on to say that CUPE 3338 sent a final offer to the employer before the Christmas break that the union is hoping to get a response too now that the decision has been made by the LRB to find SFU guilty of bad faith bargaining.
“We’re anxious to get on with the settlement so we can get on to deal with the pension issues,” said Bannister, “that’s where our aim in this is.” This sentiment was echoed by CUPE BC universities coordinator Tracy Mathieson, who said in a statement: “In light of this decision, we look forward to getting back to the bargaining table — this time for a contract. Our calendars are open and we are ready to meet.”
When contacted by The Peak, officials for the university declined to comment on the situation, given that no collective agreement has been reached. However, a labour update on the official SFU website acknowledged the LRB’s judgment and stated: “The University is currently studying the decision to determine how best to respond.”
While the university did come to a tentative agreement with the Teaching Support Staff
Union (TSSU) at the close of last semester, CUPE 3338 has now gone nearing three years without an agreement. The collective agreement currently in effect expired on Mar. 31, 2010. Though many universities in the province were in bargaining with their respective unions this past fall, SFU is the only university in the that has had the ruling of bad faith bargaining charged against it.
