We have a minimum of 3 General Meetings a year plus our AGM which is held in late November or early December. There may also be Special (or Emergency) Meetings called throughout the year.

• Notification of meetings and the agenda are emailed to faculty five to seven business days prior to the meeting and posted on the VCCFA website. A calendar invite is also sent.
• All regular and term instructors employed at the time of the meeting are eligible to vote. Instructors who are laid-off but on recall can also vote. Auxiliary instructors who have worked at any time during the month when the meeting is held, can also vote. The quorum is 30 members in good standing.
• The AGM is usually held off campus, as there is a social following. Elections for the Executive and Stewards take place at the AGM.
• General Meetings are typically online meetings but can be held on one of the two campuses when space is available.
• Our union’s fiscal year runs from October to September. The budget is presented for approval at the September General Meeting.

Information about our Meetings is found in Article 5 of the Association's Bylaws.

Telephone

The office number is 604-688-6210. Instructions on how to reach the President, Vice-President, Chief Steward and Treasurer are available on that line.

Email and Website

Members of the VCCFA can be contacted through the union’s email address which is info@vccfa.ca. As well, the President, Vice President and Chief Steward have vccfa.ca email addresses. These can be found on our Contact page.

Offices

Members can drop by the 402 West Pender Street office any time during working hours (9:30am-4:30pm M-F). The union office at the Broadway Campus is Room 2654 located on the second floor near the College and Career Access Department offices. Appointments can be made to meet at this location. During Bargaining, the negotiating committee will often use this space as might other union committees.

Great question! We can always use help. If you are interested in becoming active in the union, talk to the President, Vice President, or Chief Steward. There are a lot of ways to become involved: Executive, stewards, committees, etc.

Elected Positions: The Executive and Stewards are elected at the Annual General Meeting, usually held in late November or early December.

Election Process: Prior to the AGM, talk to a member of the Executive to see what the expectations are and what the time commitment will be. Then, prior to the AGM, have a union member nominate you and fill out the nomination form. Your name will then stand for election. Nominations may also be made and accepted from the floor of the AGM.

At the AGM: Nominees usually give a short speech. If the number of nominees equals the positions open, election is by acclamation, otherwise ballots are cast (this doesn't include the President; there must be a ballot for President).

For more information about coverage, consult your Collective Agreement. Appendix III-A of the Collective Agreement has a Chart that summarizes when instructors are eligible for the various medical and dental benefits.

You will find all current Health and Dental benefits for you and your family:

• on the Pacific Blue Cross website. You will need to get your ID and group number from the plan admin in HR.

• in the College’s “Employee Benefits Booklet”, available from the Human Resources department.

For all Regular Instructors, coverage is as below, except that qualifying periods are shortened from 10 months to one month.

For Term Instructors at half-time or more, and with appointments of one month or more in length, holidays and vacation are included in one’s pay.

For Auxiliary Instructors (those appointed for on-call work usually a day or two at a time) and for less than half-time Term Instructors (those appointed for a set period), there are no benefits except statutory holidays and vacation time, which is pre-calculated in one’s rate of pay.

After 10 months within 12 consecutive months:

• Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability coverage starts (STD is Employee-paid and LTD is Employer-paid).
• Dental Plan coverage starts (Employer-paid).
• Group Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance starts (Employer-paid). Instructors may elect to purchase further Life Insurance at this point at their own expense.
• Medical Services Plan and Extended Health Benefits start after the first month (Employer-paid premiums).

Contact a steward if you still have questions.

Enrolment in the pension plan is mandatory if instructors are initially hired as full-time regulars (rare at VCC) or once their salary reaches one-half of the Yearly Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE). This is an amount set annually by the federal government.

The premium is currently 10.24 per cent of your salary.  The employer contributes 10.34 per cent of your salary on your behalf. Much more detailed information about the plan is available here.

Your pension in retirement will be based on your years of service and the average salary of your best five years of service (these years can be part time - for example someone who worked part time just before retirement might have their pension calculated based on 3 years full time and 4 years at half time).

There is a pension calculator on the College pension website that will give you a personalized estimate.

For detailed information about your personal pension, we advise you to first check out the plan’s website and contacts at college.pensionsbc.ca.

We also advise you to contact the College's People Services Department or one of the stewards.

Some members may have accumulated pensionable service in other BC public sector pension plans that they want to transfer to the College Pension Plan. There is an agreement regarding such transfers.

Also note that the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) and the ICBC Pension Plan have been added to the list of BC public sector pension plans covered by the transfer agreement. You may also be eligible to transfer service from public sector plans in other provinces; contact the Pension Corporation at www.pensionsbc.ca.

You can purchase pension service for some types of leaves up until 5 years after your return date.  For most leaves you must pay both the employee and employer contributions.  Purchasing pension service can be very expensive.

If the case of maternity, parental and adoption leaves, the college will pay its portion of the leave if you purchase your share. Pension service is an equity issue - your earnings in retirement should be equivalent to someone who didn't take time away from paid work for child rearing - but at present the only way to ensure your own pension equity is to purchase your service upon return from the leave.

They can receive an advanced notice. It is the union’s position that they cannot receive the actual notice while on leave. This would contravene our Collective Agreement rights and Employment Standards. The person would receive their notice when they return to work from leave.

Holidays are paid out at the time the person is laid off. Holidays are not part of the notice period. However, if the member requests to take holidays during the notice period, they may do so. It would be best if the request were in writing and copied to the VCCFA.

An instructor must work at least 7 months at 50% in the fiscal year to be entitled to PD. So, yes a member on notice may be eligible for PD. If entitled to PD time, then also entitled to PD funds.

Members are automatically on recall for their own area unless they take severance. If instructors apply to transfer to an area where they meet the hiring criteria, but do not have the necessary seniority to transfer, they can go on the recall list for that area. Members could be on the recall list for as many areas as they are qualified for.

All Area Hiring Criteria can be found on myVCC under ​People Services > Recruitment > Job Descriptions​.

No, the time to apply for transfer and/or recall is within one month after the actual notice is issued. The College will let those on the recall list know when there are new postings.

No, the area to which the member transfers becomes the new home area. One can only go back home if there is another layoff in the future from the new home area and one applies for transfer back, etc.

It is recall for less than 4 months or less than the time status one had before layoff. A member can say no to temporary recall without losing recall rights.

All members on recall should let the College know if they wish to be considered for sub work. Deans will encourage departments to call those on the recall list first. Any work done while on recall is recall work and treated as such. This means it is paid at the appropriate step placement and extends the recall date.

They can say no if it is temporary recall. If it is full recall, they will receive a letter and have 15 days to reply. If they do not accept full recall, they will lose their recall rights. Before this happens, they will want to claim their severance if applicable. Anyone in this situation should contact the union.

Any time within the 24-month recall period. Once the severance is taken, the employment relation is broken and there is no right to recall.

Yes. It is on a first come, first serve basis. The information will be available on the VCC website.

Yes, they need to let the College and Library know before they leave.

Yes, they remain union members for their recall period. Anyone on recall can attend meetings, vote, and work on committees, or be elected to a union position.

We advise you to contact the EI office.

Yes, a person on recall can purchase their benefits. If working 50% on recall, for 30 days or more, benefits will be covered. You do not have to purchase all the coverage.

Benefits need to be paid quarterly. There is no option in and out.

Please contact a steward for more detailed information.

This is the process by which instructors move from term status to regular status.

Most instructors start under term appointments. If these term appointments continue at half-time or more for about 19 months (380 days) out of any continuous 24 months they automatically become regular instructors on the first of the month following. Not more than 200 days (about 10 months) in a fiscal year can count towards regularization. After 6 months of term appointments, further appointments must be offered by seniority so one can have an expectation of re-appointment. Term instructors are expected to have successful summative evaluations. There can be no more than two in any two-year period.

Notes: It is possible for a person to be hired directly as a regular instructor at VCC; in these cases one’s first year is probationary during which one goes through summative evaluation. We do not have regular status at less than half time.

For more personalized questions and advice for regularization, contact a steward.

1. Hired as Probationary Regular:
   Some instructors are hired as probationary regulars. After one year and a successful evaluation, their status becomes permanent regular.
2. Become regularized:
   Under our Collective Agreement, an instructor becomes "regularized" (see the section above for details). Once they work 380 days at 50% or more, instructors become regular permanent instructors on the first of the month following 380 days.

Regularization and seniority calculations are not the same. For regularization, a day is a day as long as it is half time or more. If you have a one-month contract at 50% (half time), you have earned 20 or 21 days (depending on the month) towards regularization. However, seniority calculations are prorated. In this example, 20 days at half-time accrues 10 full-time days of seniority.

Concurrent with or following your first term appointment, auxiliary work done counts towards seniority but not for regularization or increments.

Once on the seniority list, an instructor remains on the list for 24 months after the last term appointment.

Term instructors and those hired as probationary regular instructors are expected to complete summative evaluations. The process is mandated in Article 16 of the Collective Agreement. Details are found in Appendix 7 - Evaluation of Term and Probationary Regular Instructors. It is a complex process so those going through it are urged to contact a steward if they have any questions or concerns.

Article 5.6 of the Collective Agreement sets out the parameters for step placement. There is only one eleven step scale in our agreement and one is placed on it according to Article 5.6.

Placement criteria are set out for consideration and the College must provide a written rationale for how they have placed someone. Instructors may discuss their placement with the College and can ask for a steward to go along with them.

Within six months of the initial placement an instructor may ask for a review with a different administrator and may at that time submit any additional information. It’s advisable to consult a steward first.

As is often the case in the college sector some traditional management functions such as scheduling are handled for the most part by the department and at the department level. These functions are set out in our Collective Agreement.

All Department Heads, Assistant Department Heads, Coordinators and Instructional Associates are faculty members and are in the union.

Excluded management includes the President, Vice Presidents, Associate Vice Presidents, Deans or Directors, Associate Directors and Managers.

Article 3.11 of the Collective Agreement obligates the College to manage “significant matters” using “consultative processes” and both parties acknowledge that the “active and continuing” participation of the VCCFA is required.

“Significant” applies to any matter so identified by another party and “consultative” is defined as “processes that involve the serious exchange of information and ideas before action is taken”.

The Union and College meet regularly under the auspices of this Article to discuss a wide range of issues. If you wish to have the Union raise a significant issue please contact the office.

Article 3.10 sets up this task-oriented union/management committee. Since 1990 it has worked on a variety of issues and procedures that have become part of the Collective Agreement.

The Election or Selection of Instructors with Responsibility Allowances (IRAs); Evaluation and Appraisal of IRAs; Evaluation and Appraisal Procedures for Instructors; Hiring Procedures and Area Designation have all gone through the Joint Steering Committee. *

* Currently the Joint Steering Committee continues to monitor and review the general Evaluation and Appraisal processes.

The full salary scale is listed in Appendix 1 of the Collective Agreement. The lowest step is Step 11, and the highest is Step 1.

The College does a direct payroll deposit to the bank of your choice. Faculty are paid every two weeks (bi-weekly).

In our system we negotiate the annual wage and all other wages are derived from it. There is therefore only one scale for all members. Members may notice a “rate” on their pay slips, which do not conform to the derived hourly rates below. This is because that “rate” is an artificial number that the College’s computer system uses in order to come as close as possible to the correct pay amount.

VCC-VCCFA Collective Agreement – 2014-2019 – Salary Schedule – Draft

Usually all instructors within a department, term or regular, have the same workload profile. A workload profile lists how many hours per week of class time is typical, and how many hours are for meetings, office hours, prep, etc. The workload profile may differ between departments or areas but usually not for individuals in the same departments or areas. Under the Collective Agreement, no instructor may be assigned more than 25 hours a week of any combination of assigned duty (see Articles 6.1 and 6.2 of the Collective Agreement). 25 hours is the maximum number of assigned duty hours per week for counsellors and librarians as well.