Early Days
The BCIT Faculty and Staff Association began life in 1964, the same year as BCIT. Originally formed as a social committee for all Institute employees, our organization was re-named the Staff Society in 1965.
In 1967, the Staff Society began its transformation into a union when it first represented Institute workers in the hiring of a new principal at BCIT. Over the next several years, the Society’s mandate grew as it began to represent staff in discussions with the administration about salaries, benefits, working conditions, reclassification, educational leaves, parking, and the Institute’s planning committee. Even though the Staff Society was not yet a certified union, by 1970 the Society’s work resulted in a negotiated agreement on Faculty Personnel Policies with BCIT’s administration — a 20-page document that served the same purpose as a collective agreement.
The well-being of BCIT as a unique educational institution in British Columbia was then — as it is now, for the FSA — at the heart of the Staff Society’s work. The Society focused on developing and maintaining a high standard of academic excellence at BCIT, working to uphold program quality, industry relations, and to attract and retain highly qualified faculty and staff.
Certification
In 1972, the Staff Society helped lead the push for legislation to grant the Institute’s own Board of Governors. These changes led the Staff Society to seek official status, first within recognition under the Societies Act in October 1973, then certifying as an independent labour union for all non-management BCIT employees a year later.
The 1974 certification included teaching faculty, non-teaching (specialized) faculty in the library and other areas, technical staff who worked in labs and Student Services, staff in Computer Resources, the Learning Resources Unit, and Assistant Instructors. BCIT’s Support Staff employees were, however, separated from the Staff Society by the Labour Relations Board. Our first collective agreement was signed in June 1975 and incorporated such fixtures as the three-hour break and joint BCIT-Staff Society committees for recruitment, selection, and placement.
During this period, the Staff Society hired its first staff member, a part-time secretary, and began publishing its newsletter.
Growth & Affiliations
Prior to certification, in 1971, the Staff Society joined the College Faculty Federation (CFF), which became College Institute Educators Association (CIEA)—the predecessor to the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE)—from which the Society separated in 1986.
That same year, BCIT amalgamated with the Pacific Vocational Institute, a provincial trades school also located on the Burnaby Campus. There were considerable negotiations at that time to meld the four existing unions into three. Since then, smaller institutes have joined BCIT as the Institute has also grown internally, adding new members to our ranks. In addition to the FSA, BCIT has two British Columbia Government Employees Union locals (one covering vocational instructors and another covering support staff).
With all this expansion and increasing member diversity, in 1994 the Staff Society hired its first professional grievance officer to take on the work previously conducted by the executive. In 1996, we changed our name to the Faculty and Staff Association to better reflect the diverse nature of the Union’s members.
Since certification, the FSA has gone to picket lines three times. Our 1989 strike lasted for eight days, resulting in the creation of the Assistant Instructor classification. The 1999 strike, over class sizes and workload, saw six days of rotating job action by different departments followed by escalation to a full campus-wide strike for five days. In 2012, four separate days of strike action were required to protect salaries and benefits.
More recently, the FSA has made strategic decisions to affiliate with academic and labour organizations that share our values. In early 2016, the FSA Board endorsed a motion to join with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the National Union of CAUT (NUCAUT), ratified by CAUT’s 81st General Council in December of that year. In November and December 2016, the FSA joined the BC Federation of Labour (BCFED) on a trial basis, with our members taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by provincial affiliation.
Diversity and Reconciliation
The FSA’s commitment to improving our members’ wellbeing extends beyond the bargaining table and picket line and take into consideration the needs of the whole worker. The Diversity Circles (DC) initiative was co-founded by the FSA and BCIT Research in 2016, enabled by a successful SSHRC grant led by FSA members. The DC program brings together individuals throughout the BCIT community and beyond to learn about and advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion. While DC provides a forum for the broader BCIT community, the FSA’s Equity Caucus provides a forum for FSA members specifically to discuss priorities for advocacy and share with the FSA Board and staff.
The FSA is committed to the ongoing journey of Reconciliation, recognizing that actions must follow from our intentions, must be grounded in respect, and must be guided by our Indigenous union and community members. We are devoted to continuing and updating the relevant practices that we have in place and fighting for equity and justice through bargaining, our Indigenous Affinity Circle, Equity Caucus, Equity Policy, and our day-to-day practices.