Public Sector Bargaining Mandates & Agreements

2022 Shared Recovery Mandate

The Shared Recovery Mandate applies to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreements expire on or after December 31, 2021.

Negotiations are focused on providing a fair and reasonable offer to public-sector workers that includes significant inflation protection, while ensuring that government has the resources to continue to invest in building a stronger province for everyone.

Key priorities of the 2022 Shared Recovery Mandate include:

• Protecting the services that people in British Columbia depend on
• Improving health care and preparing for future needs and challenges
• Supporting a strong economic recovery that includes everyone in B.C

Elements of the 2022 mandate include:

• Three-year term
• General wage increases
  • Year 1 – a flat increase of $0.25/hour which provides a greater percentage increase for lower paid employees, plus 3.24%
  • Year 2 – 5.5% plus a potential Cost of Living Adjustment to a maximum of 6.75% (Maximum 6.75% triggered as of March 21, 2023)
  • Year 3 – 2% plus a potential Cost of Living Adjustment to a maximum of 3% (Maximum 3% triggered as of March 19, 2024)
• A negotiable Flexibility Allocation of up to 0.25% in years 1 and 2 to support mutually beneficial outcomes for both parties.

Past Mandates

• 2019 Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate
• 2014 Economic Stability Mandate
• 2012 Cooperative Gains Mandate
• 2010 Net Zero Mandate

2019 Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate

The Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate applied to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreements expired on or after December 31, 2018.

• The Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate was about improving the delivery of services for people in B.C., and balancing the need for fair and reasonable wage increases with outcomes that were affordable and managed within the fiscal plan.
• The Mandate was designed to support government’s core priorities and enhance and modernize the delivery of services that British Columbians rely on. 
• It ensured the fiscal sustainability of our province while providing fair compensation.

Elements of the 2019 mandate:

• Three-year term
• General wage increases of 2% in each year
• Ability to negotiate conditional and modest funding that can be used to drive tangible service improvements for British Columbians. An example would be targeted funds to address existing, chronic labour market challenges where employers need to meet service delivery commitments or changes that achieved service enhancements such as innovations, modernization or efficiencies.

2014 Economic Stability Mandate

The Economic Stability Mandate applied to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreements expired on or after December 31, 2013.

The goals of the 2014 mandate:

• To create certainty and stability throughout the public sector through longer-term voluntarily negotiated agreements.
• To protect the Province’s fiscal plan and public services by negotiating collective agreements that provide affordable service delivery to B.C. taxpayers.
• To provide public sector employees with the opportunity to share in the economic growth of the Province, conditional upon economic performance and ability to pay.

Elements of the 2014 mandate:

• Five-year term
• General wage increases of 0, 1%, 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.5%
• An additional 1.95% in Economic Stability Dividends for total of 7.45% at the end of the five year term
  • the Economic Stability Dividend provided public sector employees with an opportunity to participate in the Province’s economic growth – when actual real GDP growth was one percentage point above the forecasted real GDP growth, then a 0.5% wage increase resulted – this was in addition the GWI

2012 Cooperative Gains Mandate

The 2012 Cooperative Gains Mandate applied to all public sector employers whose collective agreements expire on or after December 31, 2011.

• The Cooperative Gains Mandate enabled public sector employers to negotiate modest wage increases made possible by productivity increases within existing budgets
• Settlements under the Cooperative Gains Mandate were  unique and differentiated between sectors and between employers in some sectors as each depended on a number of factors, particularly the ability to generate savings to fund modest compensation improvements

Principles of the 2012 mandate:

• The Province will not provide additional funding for increases to compensation negotiated in collective bargaining
• Employers are directed to work with responsible ministries and employer bargaining agents to develop Savings Plans to free up funding from within existing budgets to provide modest compensation increases
• Employers must not reduce service levels to the public in order to fund compensation increases
• Employers must not transfer the costs of existing services to the public to pay for compensation increases
• Savings Plans can include savings resulting from operational cost reductions, increased efficiency, service redesign, business gains and other initiatives, so they can propose much broader savings than under the previous Net Zero Mandate
• Identified savings are to be used to fund compensation increases that will facilitate negotiated settlements with unions through collective bargaining
• Identified savings must be real, measurable and incremental to savings identified by public service employers to meet Provincial Budget and deficit reduction targets for 2012/13 and beyond
• Employers and unions may also negotiate other savings at the bargaining table to supplement Savings Plans
• Employers are not required to negotiate a target wage increase but increases must be modest and employers must have an approved Bargaining Plan from government
• Employers must seek agreements of at least two years in length; there is no maximum term for collective agreements under the Cooperative Gains Mandate

2010 Net Zero Mandate

The 2010 Net Zero Mandate applied to all public sector employers whose collective agreements expired on or after December 31, 2009.

• Under the 2010 Mandate, negotiators sought to move money from one part of the collective agreement to another, so any improvements in the collective agreements have to be offset by savings in other compensation areas

Elements of the 2010 mandate:

The goal of Mandate 2010 was to achieve voluntarily negotiated collective agreements in the B.C. public sector that assist the Province in delivering public services in a cost-effective and financially prudent manner:

• A two-year term
• No net increases in total compensation costs
• Compensation trade-offs: savings found through (mutually-agreed) changes in collective agreements may be used to fund compensation increase