Last week the negotiating team was in Victoria again bargaining from Tuesday through Thursday. This time we had the pleasure of having Harp Sandhu join us in lieu of Dave Robertson who was needed at home. We all have made sacrifices to continue this work so it's important to find some balance in the work.

This weekend I travel up to Prince George to give a more complete overview of the status of negotiations during their regional meeting as well as join retirement celebrations. With one day at home I head back to Richmond and will be attending a Tuesday evening meeting in the North Fraser office for the North Lower Mainland regional. Hopefully during that week we can also attend a South Lower Mainland regional meeting since we'll be in town for bargaining anyway, followed by a union executive meeting the following weekend.

In a general sense things are slowing down at the bargaining table, many of the lighter issues have been discussed and now we're weighing heavier issues of strategic importance to the employer and employees alike such as lateral transfers and flexible work schedules. The money issue always is on our minds but that tends to be one of the last things hammered out depending on the prevailing talks amongst the other employers and unions currently negotiating.

Stay tuned...or better yet... tune in for more detail at your coming regional: soon... Okanagan around April 11th/12th and the North Island in the first week of April. For the Kootenays and South Lower Mainland... ask your reps to get it going! 🙂