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Vocational instructors at Okanagan College have voted in favour of accepting a new three-year contract that provides for a wage increase and other measures that allow instructors to convert seldom-used benefits into a commensurate pay increase.
Kelowna (01 Sept 2005) - Vocational instructors at Okanagan College have voted in favour of accepting a new three-year contract that was negotiated earlier this summer.
The deal, which was voted on Wednesday night in Kelowna, provides for a wage increase and other measures that allow instructors to convert seldom-used benefits into a commensurate pay increase. It covers 165 instructors who are members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, and will expire March 31, 2007.
“This agreement took a lot of dedication and hard work by all involved,” says BCGEU president George Heyman. “It’s a fair contract that both sides could live with.”
Now that the Okanagan contract has been approved and contracts with three other colleges are also in place, Heyman says his union will turn to finalizing agreements at two remaining colleges. Negotiations at Camosun College in Victoria are expected to be wrapped up soon, while bargaining dates are being pursued with the Fort St. John-based Northern Lights College.
Meanwhile, vocational instructors at Malaspina College based in Nanaimo also achieved a tentative settlement over the summer, and BCGEU members there will begin their ratification process Sept. 19.
The Okanagan College instructors provide training in trades and vocational fields, a variety of programs for careers in business and health care, along with adult basic and special education. These programs are offered at the college’s four campuses in Kelowna, Salmon Arm, Vernon and Penticton.