Bargaining
FortisBC – Bargaining Update # 12
May 2, 2024
To: All MoveUP members at FortisBC
I write to inform you that your bargaining committee met remotely with your employer for negotiations on April 24, 2024, and then in person on April 29 and 30, 2024.
Having been presented with our monetary proposal package the previous week, the employer spent April 29 in caucus reviewing our proposals and writing their response, which they presented to us the following day.
Unsurprisingly, the employer’s initial wage offer is unacceptably low. More problematically, they have insisted on making their economic offer contingent on our acceptance of non-monetary proposals similar to ones they had tabled earlier in the bargaining process, and which we had denied, having identified them as concessionary.
For clarity, we define a concession as any change to the collective agreement that would reduce, remove, or qualify any right or entitlement that our members presently receive.
As a matter of policy, MoveUP does not take concessions. Further, as a matter of principle, a fair deal from a profitable employer should not include them.
Your committee spent May 1, 2024, in caucus, reviewing the employer’s counteroffer and considering our response. If the employer will not withdraw their concessionary demands, it is clear we will face significant challenges as we work in good faith to reach a deal.
We will meet remotely for further negotiations in the morning of May 9, 2024, and then in person on May 13, 14, and 15, 2024.
We will update you again following these dates, or if there are significant developments in the meantime.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee:
Norm Stickelmann, Executive Board Member
Michelle Simister, Executive Councillor
Charlie Lee, Executive Councillor
Lea McNaughton, Executive Councillor
Paul Voykin, Union Representative
April Young, Union Representative