The province has signed new five-year labour contracts providing 5.5 per cent pay hikes with unions representing nearly 7,500 workers at 14 post-secondary institutions.
The recently ratified agreements follow the government’s same “economic stability mandate” that has been the pattern for other public sector unions.
Within the Lower Mainland, the new agreements include 1,000 instructors, counsellors and librarians and other staff at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, plus another 575 support and administrative service staff at KPU campuses in Cloverdale, Langley, Surrey and Richmond.
Other facilities in the region that have new contracts with faculty or support staff include Douglas College, Capilano College, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, the B.C. Institute of Technology and the Justice Institute of B.C.
The economic stability agreements, which now cover 230,000 workers across the province or three-quarters of the unionized public sector, promise extra wage hikes if B.C. exceeds its economic growth forecasts.
