Executives at the British Columbia General Employees Union say they are frustrated with what they describe as shifting values at one of B.C.'s largest financial institutions, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union.
The BCGEU is mired in mediated contract negotiations with Vancity, and its members voted in March to be able to go on strike in order to get what they consider a fair deal. The union can issue a 72-hour strike notice but no threat to go on strike has been issued.
This comes about a year after Vancity laid off about 200 workers with what the BCGEU says was little notice or ability to prepare. Vancity said that it needed "to align Vancity's business with our current market conditions."
The BCGEU told BIV its members have said they are concerned Vancity’s strategic direction represents a shift away from the credit union model and toward one of a corporate bank.
Vancity has built its brand in advertising around being a socially progressive, community-focused financial institution.
About 700 Vancity workers in a range of jobs have been without a contract since the end of 2023. Vancity said last year, after the layoffs, that it would have a total of more than 2,300 employees.
BCGEU president Paul Finch told BIV in an interview that sticking points for a new contract are "fair compensation" and getting Vancity to agree to create a defined-benefit pension plan that would involve worker-elected trustees to co-manage the pension fund's capital.
He said that in the last round of bargaining for the contract that officially took effect in January 2020, Vancity agreed to create such a pension plan. Vancity then only allowed non-union members to take part in that plan, Finch said.
BIV asked Vancity about the union's concern that any pension plan would not involve worker-elected trustees. Those trustees are needed to represent worker interests because it is their money, the union told BIV.
"Vancity put forward an offer through the bargaining process that included annual wage increases that would keep Vancity in the top quartile of similar employers, full retroactive back pay, and the option of a defined benefit pension plan that would provide our union members with a reliable retirement income for life," Vancity said in a statement to BIV.
It did not address worker-elected trustees.
Vancity added that "we are currently in mediation with the BCGEU — a collaborative process where both sides work to reach an agreement through facilitated dialogue. We’re hopeful for progress and won’t be commenting out of respect for that process."
Finch called it "egregious" that Vancity would take a pension plan design that the union created and only offer it to non-union workers.
"We think it's completely contradictory to Vancity's stated values, and we really think the credit union has lost their way," he said.
"Vancity's actions aren't in alignment with their stated values, with the brand that they have promoted as being their values, because we've seen their actions, particularly around the denial of retirement security, as particularly egregious."
Mediation is ongoing with both sides hopeful for a deal.
"We think that we're close on wages," Finch said. "We're not close enough to get a deal right now.”
But he said the BCGEU is optimistic a deal can be made if there's movement on retirement security.
