UBC wants you to go ask your mom for healthcare.

TL;DR for this update

The University’s response to our monetary bargaining proposals ignored most of our proposals and fell severely short of what we expected. Your negotiating committee will present more details and an assessment of what it might take to make progress on these proposals at the upcoming June 10th Membership Meeting.  It is essential that you attend. The decisions made at this meeting will directly shape the wins we achieve during bargaining and what our next contract will look like. 

Details of the meeting:

June 10th, 5:30pm

Gateway Health Building rm 1003 or Zoom

RSVP here

In-depth Update:

Yesterday at the bargaining table, UBC presented to us their response package to the monetary proposals your negotiating team initially presented on April 20th.  

Our monetary bargaining is bound by the Public Sector Employer’s Council (PSEC), which sets a standard for general wage increases (GWI) and non-wage increases to our contract. For this round of negotiations, these rates have been set at 3% GWI yearly over four years, with an additional 2% of what is colloquially known as “flex money” that is used for other improvements to our contract (e.g., healthcare).

In UBC’s response to our monetary proposals, they proposed a 3% GWI over four years, and a one-time targeted 5% increase for Undergraduate TAs. They claimed that these proposals maximized what they could afford within these percentage guidelines set by the government. However, not only did their proposals fall severely short of the PSEC funding, but they also refused to respond to any of our following proposals:

1. Simplifying our pay scale to make it more equitable

2. Access to the employee healthcare and dental plans

3. Reducing minimum funding clawbacks

4. Tuition waivers for CUPE 2278 members

Our monetary package also includes proposals specific to members at the Center for Accessibility (CfA) and the English Language Institute (Component 2). Members at the CfA are asking for paid breaks, protections on workload, and expanded leaves. UBC was unwilling to entertain even our bare minimum proposals, such as paid breaks for exam invigilators. The University also is seeking concessions on sick leave (reducing the effective amount of sick leave that would be available) for our comrades at the English Language Institute (Component 2), and refuses to discuss any of our other monetary proposals for ELIs. Our union will never accept concessions in bargaining.

UBC’s persistent dismissal of our proposals is going to require creativity for us to make progress. We, as a community of student workers, have some big decisions to make about how to balance each of our bargaining priorities. Below you will find more detailed context from the negotiating committee of the major issues we are currently facing: 

1. Wages

   1. GAAs have been fighting for a contract since July 2023. We are in the process of setting a wage standard for the future of GAA positions at UBC. This is the only time that we will not be bound by percentage increases set by the provincial government via PSEC 

   2. UBC’s last offer for GAA wages was a minimum of approximately $27/hour. Their latest position is to delay setting a wage standard for GAAs until after bargaining concludes. This would mean that our strike power would be gone. In order to win the meaningful gains that hundreds of GAAs unionized for in 2023, the fight for GAA wages needs to be won during this round of bargaining. 

   3. UBC is not willing to discuss our simplified and equitable wage scale proposal, which would redefine wages based on the work performed. A revised wage scale is a priority for our members and we are working on a counter to UBC’s proposal, which only proposed some small adjustments to the present wage scale. 

2. Tuition

   1. UBC has said that it will cost an excessive amount of money to cover tuition for all members. We expect that this will be an uphill battle. 

3. Eliminating the Minimum Funding Clawback

   1. UBC thinks this is a student issue, but unionized student workers at CUPE 3902 (U of T) won on this very issue through the power of their solidarity. 

4. Healthcare

   1. UBC has rejected our proposal to join the employee health and dental plans. The University thinks that CUPE 2278 members don’t need expanded health coverage because they have access to sufficient coverage through their parents or the AMS/GSS plan. “Ask your mom for health insurance” is not a reasonable bargaining position.

   2. As a result of strategic pressure and strikes in the past, your union has achieved significant gains for member benefits. In 2003, UBC threatened to take away members’ original health fund, and your union went on strike to successfully protect this benefit. In the 2012 strike, a personal hardship fund was won. There have been further gains to these benefits since, with the funds now administered via the Health, Wellbeing, and Hardship Fund. The present round of bargaining is an opportunity for us to demand more. 

Attend the meeting on June 10th.

This meeting on June 10th is our first opportunity to show UBC that we are serious about making big gains in this round of negotiations. If we want to win on the issues of wage equity, tuition waivers, eliminating funding clawbacks, and healthcare, it is going to take escalation and potential job action. You are needed at the meeting on June 10th. In this meeting, and in the coming weeks, we have a chance to improve not only our own working and learning conditions at UBC, but the conditions of students at this university for decades to come.

See you there!