Classes were in session at Northwest Community College as usual Friday when an instructors' strike here and at 15 other post-secondary institutions in B.C. was averted earlier that morning. A marathon collective bargaining session between instructors and their employers leading up to the 6 a.m. strike deadline resulted in a tentative agreement before classes were disrupted. It's the first time NWCC instructors, now represented by the CIEA, have been part of province-wide bargaining. The Post Secondary Employers' Association said details won't be released to the public until the agreement is ratified by college boards and the faculty unions.
Ratification is followed by local bargaining sessions at each institution.
The three-year agreement addresses job security, health and welfare benefits, and better protection against contracting out. It also contains provisions for regularization for temporary employees. All of these items are within the provincial guidelines for public sector wage restraint increases that call for two years of zero increases followed by a two percent increase in year three. NWCC instructor Rocque Berthiaume is hopeful that the agreement will be ratified. NWCC employs 304 staff members.