INFORMATION BULLETIN For Immediate Release Ministry of Finance 2015FIN0003-000090 Ministry of Advanced Education January 27, 2015 Thompson Rivers University Open Learning Faculty members ratify agreement VICTORIA – Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and the Opening Learning Faculty Association (TRUOLFA) have ratified their tentative agreement negotiated under the 2014 Economic Stability Mandate. The five-year agreement covers approximately 240 Open Learning faculty members who provide education services through distanced education at TRU. The Open Learning faculty provide instruction on 57 Open Learning programs, from trades to traditional academics, certificates to bachelor and graduate degrees, academics as well as professional career paths, plus a growing number of interdisciplinary choices. The term of the agreement is from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2019. The agreement provides for a 5.5% wage increase over the five years of the term with potential for additional increases if the B.C. economy exceeds the annual forecasts set by the Economic Forecast Council during the last four years of the agreement. Approximately 200,000 public-sector employees are now covered by tentative or ratified agreements under the Economic Stability Mandate. Overall, this represents about two-thirds of all unionized public-sector employees in B.C. The government’s Economic Stability Mandate gives public-sector employers the ability to negotiate longer-term agreements within a fixed fiscal envelope, and offers employees an opportunity to participate in the province’s economic growth through the Economic Stability Dividend. Settlements are expected to be unique and to reflect priorities negotiated to ensure labour stability and affordable service delivery throughout B.C. Quick Facts: • • • • The new 2014 Economic Stability Mandate applies to all public-sector employers whose collective agreements expired on or after Dec. 31, 2013. If the province’s real GDP growth exceeds forecasts over the terms of the agreement, the agreement provides for the sharing of some benefits of that growth with the publicsector employees who work on behalf of British Columbians and help make that growth possible. Under this proposal, employees would receive a conditional, incremental wage increase equal to half of any percentage-point gain in real GDP growth above the Economic Forecast Council’s forecast published in the February budget. For example, if real GDP growth is one percentage point above forecast real GDP growth, then a 0.5% wage increase would result, beyond whatever wage increase had been negotiated in the contract. Learn More: An up-to-date listing of tentative and ratified agreements under the Economic Stability Mandate is available at: http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/psec/ Media Contacts: Government Communications and Public Engagement Jamie Edwardson Ministry of Finance 250 356-2821 Government Communications and Public Engagement Stacey McGaghey Jones Ministry of Advanced Education 250 952-6400 Connect with the Province of B.C. at: www.gov.bc.ca/connect