Collective Bargaining

Selkirk College is committed to integrity in all of our labour relations, including free and fair collective bargaining.

A collaborative approach to negotiating the terms and conditions of employment for staff is foundational to our ability to strengthen our focus on students by providing a relevant, accessible and inspiring learning environment that combines teaching excellence, high-quality courses and programs, rewarding students supports, and transformative campus and life experiences.

As a provincial public sector employer, Selkirk College negotiates the terms and conditions of its collective agreements within BC’s centralized model to bargaining, which was implemented in 1994 under the Public Sector Employers Act. This model allows unions to bargain directly with sector-based employers’ associations or employers while ensuring that the province’s policy direction, the needs of citizens, and free and fair collective bargaining are respected.

Learn more about public sector bargaining

Three Unions

Selkirk College negotiates collective agreements with three unions representing over 1,470 employees and an annual compensation base of approximately $51 million:

The college also has the Administrative Staff Employment and Benefit Program for just over 550 non-union senior managers and excluded staff and administrators. The three collective agreements are due for negotiation during the 2025 round of bargaining. This page is the site for college updates, as required, relating to those negotiations. 

*Data as of 2026/27 (PSEC Secretariat)

Negotiations Updates

Balanced Measure Mandate: 2025

The Balanced Measures Mandate applies to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreements expire on or after December 31, 2024.

Negotiations under the 2025 Balanced Measures Mandate support government’s key priorities to protect and strengthen critical services in BC’s public sector, to maintain labour stability in a complex round of bargaining and to support the Province’s efforts to find operational efficiencies that preserve front-line services.

Learn more about the priorities and mandates.

Collective bargaining at Selkirk College is currently underway with all of its employee union groups, along with other public-sector employers in British Columbia. 

Follow Public Sector Employers' Council Secretariat News to learn more.

Selkirk College Faculty Association  

A tentative agreement was reached between Selkirk College and the Selkirk College Faculty Association on June 12, 2026, based on the Balanced Measures Mandate.

Learn more about the Selkirk College Faculty Association.

BC General Employees' Union

A tentative agreement was reached in the negotiations between the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association and five BCGEU locals for vocational instructors on May 26, 2026.

This includes BCGEU instructors working at: 

  • Camosun College
  • Coast Mountain College
  • Northern Lights College
  • Okanagan College
  • Selkirk College

This is a renewal of the Common Agreement under the Province’s Balanced Measures Mandate. This agreement will not proceed to ratification until each institution has completed its local bargaining process, and details will be kept confidential to protect that process.

Learn more about the BCGEU vocational instructors

Past Updates

Shared Recovery Mandate: 2022

The Shared Recovery Mandate applied to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreements expired on or after December 31, 2021. Negotiations were focused on providing a fair and reasonable offer to public-sector workers that included significant inflation protection while ensuring that government has the resources to continue to invest in building a stronger province for everyone.

Learn More

Government of B.C News Release

 BCGEU Announcement