Bulletin
FBC-CSC – MoveUP Files Common Employer Application with BC Labour Board
August 16, 2021
To: All MoveUP members at FortisBC-CSC
MoveUP has applied to the BC Labour Board seeking an order that the FortisBC-CSC and the FortisBC bargaining units be one bargaining unit; and that an informal dispute resolution process administered by the BC Labour Board, be provided to assist the Parties to merge the Collective Agreements, while preserving the appropriate differences in rights and entitlements between the two.
You are probably saying to yourself, did we not do that already?
Yes, but we are wanting to take it one step further and have all employees from FortisBC-CSC and FortisBC under one collective agreement, and one bargaining unit.
For those of you who have been with FortisBC-CSC since go live, you may remember that when you first started, it was just the employees in Willingdon Park and in Prince George who made up the FortisBC Customer Service Centre(s), and you were all employees under the FortisBC Energy Inc. “Gas” collective agreement, your employer being FortisBC Energy Inc.
Then in and around 2012, the Trail Contact Centre and the Kelowna Billing department, who were all under the FortisBC Inc. “Electric” collective agreement, the employer being FortisBC Inc., were brought into the FortisBC Customer Service Centre(s) under the Letter of Understanding#2, which still exists today.
In our preparation for bargaining in 2017, it was realized that the Union needed to certify the FortisBC-CSC bargaining unit at the BC Labour Board under a Common Employer, as you cannot have two separate Employers under one collective agreement without a Common Employer certification being granted. We embarked on that endeavor in the beginning of 2017 and were successful in our application resulting in the BC Labour Board ruling that FortisBC Energy Inc. and FortisBC Inc., the two separate Employers were to be the Common Employer of the employees in the Customer Service Centre(s).
Now fast forward to the year 2018. The Company asked if MoveUP would be interested in a one-year extension on the collective agreement for the Electric employees, to allow for the forming of an amalgamation committee of Gas and Electric employees to discuss the possibility of bringing the Gas and Electric employees under one collective agreement. The intent was to collaboratively apply at the BC Labour Board for a Common Employer, to bring the employees of two separate Employers and bargaining units into and under one collective agreement.
Unfortunately, the draft amalgamated collective agreement was voted down by the Gas and Electric memberships. The two Employers filed a Common Employer at the BC Labour Board in April 2020. They submitted the draft collective agreement as the document they wanted to use for the employees if the BC Labour Board ruled in their favour.
On November 16, 2020, the BC Labour Board ruled in favour of the Employers, granting them a Common Employer declaration and declared the draft collective agreement to be the collective agreement to be used by the Parties. This ruling resulted in the new bargaining unit being formed called “FortisBC”, which has two employers, FortisBC Energy Inc. and FortisBC Inc., under one collective agreement.
It’s important to understand this little bit of history. MoveUP is arguing, that as members of the FortisBC-CSC bargaining unit with the same two Employers, you too should be amalgamated under this collective agreement.
It will be up to the BC Labour Board to make the decision on whether to grant the Common Employer application submitted by your union. We will let you know once we have information to share.
In solidarity,
Cindy A. Lee, Union Representative
Rysa Kronebusch, Vice President – Utilities