Vancouver Community College has reached a tentative two-year agreement with the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association (VCCFA) under the provincial government’s Mandate 2010, which calls for no net increase in compensation costs.
VCCFA president Frank Cosco said the government’s overly severe interpretation of that mandate has frustrated the bargaining progress and led to the union’s strike vote passing in February.
Cosco said he has bargained under three or four governments with zero mandates but said, traditionally, that still allows for the bargaining of non-cost items.
“This government’s interpretation of [that mandate] has been so severe, so barren, so sterile that it’s just creating frustration,” he said. “They’ve got to put that kind of approach behind them or they’re going to have tremendous difficulty getting to agreements.”
Cosco noted that his frustration is with the government agencies that have restrained the college administration’s ability to bargain, rather than the administration itself.
Regarding the tentative agreement, which union membership will vote on later this month, Cosco said, “There is some measure of satisfaction that our teams did the best they could.”
But he cautioned that the agreement will run out next March and bargaining preparation for that round will start this fall.
“There’s a lot of frustration and concern about the next round,” he said.