The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) and Health Science Professionals’ Bargaining Association (HSPBA) have been notified that the next Economic Stability Dividend (ESD) increase will be 0.4 per cent. This increase will be added to a 1.0 per cent general wage increase the first pay period following February 1, 2018, resulting in a total wage increase of 1.4 per cent at that time.
As a reminder, the ESD is calculated based on 50 per cent of the positive difference between the Economic Forecast Council (EFC) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast and the data released by Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada recently reported that the B.C. economy grew by 3.5 per cent in 2016, exceeding the forecast provided by the EFC of 2.7 per cent.
The difference of 0.8 per cent translates into an increase of 0.4 per cent for unionized provincial public sector employees who have reached agreements under the Government’s Economic Stability Mandate for collective bargaining, which includes the CBA and HSPBA. The dividend is cumulative and is in addition to the general wage increases contained in the Collective Agreements.
The increase of 0.4 per cent ESD plus the scheduled 1.0 per cent general wage increase will be applied to the current salary grids. Once applied, those grids will be revised and posted for our members so that you are able to easily view the accurate wages.