Health-sector employees in B.C. noticed a slight change in their own extended health coverage after the last collective agreement was signed.
In many cases, they are reimbursed for generic drugs, rather than brand-name ones. It鈥檚 called the PharmaCare tie-in. It鈥檚 saving significant amounts of money.
And all that money was plowed into their collective agreement, as part of the co-operative-gains mandate.
It鈥檚 one of the ways they achieved a two-year contract that is near the average four per cent wage hike cap, without the government budgeting any extra funding.
The premise was that any savings extracted, either from concessions in the collective agreement or productivity changes in the overall sector, could be used for wage increases.
The mandate was constructed for the 2012 round of bargaining that covered tens of thousands of employees in the broad public sector.
And it is still holding 鈥� theoretically 鈥� for the teachers鈥� contract. They are in a new calendar year, and could easily be two years past 2012 by the time a new contract is concluded. But they鈥檙e still being held to the 2012 mandate.
A confidential employers鈥� guide to the mandate was sent to me recently 鈥� it surfaced elsewhere earlier.
It illustrates how clearly the source of any 鈥渘ew鈥� money has to be identified. The new concept of 鈥渟avings plans鈥� was introduced. Employers were directed to create official 鈥渟avings plans,鈥� where funding from operational cost-cutting, increased efficiency, service redesigns and other ideas could be itemized and banked.
All employer bargaining agents were directed to prepare savings plans and file them with the Public Sector Employers鈥� Council last year.
鈥淭he purpose is to identify sources of funding from within the existing budgetary envelope that employer bargaining agents can then use in bargaining.鈥�
So employers went into every round of bargaining last year with a firm list of money-saving ideas, and not just from within the collective agreement. In fact, they were specifically invited to look at operations sector-wide to find ways to save money.
The only qualifications were that they couldn鈥檛 reduce service to the public or transfer costs to the public.
Within the labour-management framework, the government also ordered employers not to surrender management rights, such as setting staffing levels and scheduling.
Then they sat down with union negotiators and apparently implemented enough of the ideas to secure deals. It was considered by some to be a thorny, difficult round. But both sides at the various tables got the job done, with a minimum of disruption.
Using the rule-of-thumb figures showing that every one per cent wage hike for the unionized public sector costs the government $192 million, negotiators must have found several hundred million dollars in savings.
The last big sector is in education, for teachers and support staff.
The Education Ministry asked school districts last year to make savings plans for the school support staff. They dismissed the idea, saying there is no extra money in the system.
They didn鈥檛 even get to the topic of savings plans to fund teachers鈥� raises.
The B.C. Teachers Federation has been negotiating since February. The union said: 鈥淧rogress was being made in an atmosphere of mutual respect.鈥� But that position was taken after the government suspended the process and started a new one aimed at a 10-year deal.
It prompted the BCTF to take the summer off from bargaining, and raised a host of questions about what comes next.
Talks are expected to resume in September, about the same time a court case over the government鈥檚 last intervention in bargaining resumes. They will be right in the middle of another confrontation in court. And the savings plan from which to pay for raises for both teachers and support staff doesn鈥檛 even exist.
That鈥檚 not much of a basis for a 10-year deal. But co-operative gains wasn鈥檛 designed to cover that kind of term anyway. If the B.C. Liberals really want a 10-year deal, they鈥檙e probably going to have to pay a premium for it. And the premium would likely come from outside of co-operative gains.
