Greetings Vancouver Art Gallery Members:
Happy New Year and Lunar New Year from your bargaining committee. Now that we are back from holidays, we would like to share a bargaining update with you.
On December 15, 2022, the bargaining committee served notice to bargain, and on January 27, 2023, we finalized our protocol agreement, which is the framework for the process of negotiating a tentative agreement.
The committee is meeting this week to review documents that the employer shared with us. The committee is also taking into consideration many of the discussions we had with our membership in December 2022.
We will meet the employer at the bargaining table for the first time on February 8, 2023 and the tentative dates for these meetings are February 15 and 16, March 8, 9 and 10, April 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27, and 28, 2023.
Representing the employer at the bargaining table is Debra Nesbitt, Senior Human Resources Advisor; Shaila Kasmani, People and Culture; Zoe Mackoff de Miranda, Director of Business Development; Liz Ayre, Director Audience Development (as an alternate); and Doug Sedgewick, an outside consultant, who has been hired to be their spokesperson. Sedgewick was previously hired by the employer in the last round of bargaining (2017-2021).
When a tentative agreement is reached, the membership will be invited to vote on the ratification of the agreement. We are looking forward to getting to the table and will continue to provide you with updates as we progress.
In solidarity,
Glen Flanderka
Bo Gembarsky
Julie Martin
Arvind Thadhani