The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia has reached a tentative four-year agreement with the Canadian Office and Professional Employees' Union, Local 378, according to a press release from the union.
The agreement cannot be ratified until it is voted on by the union members. Approximately 4,600 members work for ICBC.
"This agreement secures some important foundational elements we will build on in future negotiations," David Black, COPE 378 president, said in the release. "The wage increases will keep our members from falling further behind and they will, at long last, get maternity and parental leave top-up."
The agreement includes staggered wage increases of one per cent for the period from July 1 of this year to Jan. 1, another one per cent increase on Jan. 1, another for next July 1, and another for Oct. 1, 2013.
The agreement covers the period from June 1, 2010 to June 30, 2014, according to the release, and the first wage increase is fully retroactive.
The previous agreement expired March 31, 2010.
ICBC will also top up maternity and parental leave benefits as of July 1 of next year.
The Crown corporation has committed to conducting a new workload study, the release stated. The union and ICBC have also signed off on new provisions for working from home, it added.
"This tentative agreement brings an end to our job action at ICBC," said Black. "Our members did a great job of keeping pressure on the employer while minimizing impacts to the public. This was a difficult round of negotiations and our gains are a direct credit to our members."
Job action, which has included overtime and training bans, workloads being set at 1996 levels and three days of strike action, will end at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, according to the release.
