After a tumultuous three years of bargaining that came to a head in campus shutdowns, rotating strikes, and overtime bans, SFU and CUPE 3338 have signed a tentative agreement. The agreement comes as a relief to the university and the 1,000 members of the local union, which represents SFU workers from food and beverage service workers, clerical and library positions, SFSS, GSS, and SFPIRG employees.

The tentative agreement, which was signed on June 11, is a four-year, no concessions deal spanning 2010-2013, and includes retroactive two per cent wage increases in both of the final two years; 2010 and 2011 fell under the provincial government’s freeze on wage increases for public sector workers.

“We’re very happy that we’ve managed to reach an agreement,” CUPE 3338 president Lynne Fowler said. “It was a long haul, and it’s not exactly what I would call the biggest amount of changes we’ve made to a collective agreement, but given that it expires in 2014 I think it’s time to finish this one and start on the next one.”

The agreement is currently undergoing a vote for ratification by members of the union, and Fowler said she hopes to announce the results sometime this week.

Scott McLean, acting director of SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations, spoke on behalf of the university, saying, “I think everyone’s just happy that we’ve reached this current agreement and then our next point is to solidify the pension [plan].” McLean was referring to problems with the SFU pension plan which covers CUPE 3338, Poly Party, and the Administrative and Professional Staff Association (APSA). The pension plan is currently $64.5 million in debt.

During the course of collective bargaining with CUPE 3338, the university was found guilty of bargaining in bad faith by the BC Labour Relations Board for insisting on including changes to the multi-party pension plan in collective bargaining with the individual union. The university tried to fight the verdict, but the appeal was ultimately denied. CUPE 3338 and SFU returned to the bargaining table mid-May for the first time in nearly six months, and the tentative agreement came shortly after.

CUPE 3338 has claimed that once negotiations were concluded with the union, they would want to return to the employees’ joint pension committee with APSA and Poly Party to work towards improving the pension plan. According to McLean, the university is also “looking forward to getting back to the pension table with the three groups that are affected and discussing solutions for the pension.”

When asked whether she is happy with the agreement that was reached, Fowler replied, “I’m not unhappy that we’ve reached an agreement. There’s not a lot to be happy about, there’s not a lot of changes, but at least there’s still concessions. That’s a big win, to my mind.”