News

FPSE Demands Action on Layoffs and Funding Cuts
For Immediate Release — March 25, 2025

The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) is sounding the alarm as layoffs of faculty members have started to ripple out across the province with reductions of up to 10% of the workforce. Last week, Kwantlen Polytechnic University announced that approximately 70 full-time faculty would be laid off, and announcements had already been made at Vancouver Island University, Camosun College, the College of New Caledonia, North Island College, and Langara College. We expect more layoff announcements in the coming weeks. Despite this crisis, the provincial government and the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills have been silent on the plight of our institutions.

“As we face the headwinds of tariffs and the call from the provincial government for a more responsive, innovative, and flexible post-secondary education sector, we are stunned by the silence of the Premier and the Minister on this crisis,” said Brent Calvert, President of FPSE. “The Eby government supervises and micromanages every element of our sector but has failed to take any action in the face of this crisis,” Calvert added.

In January 2024, the federal government abruptly announced a 35% cut in new international student permits. In addition, the federal government subsequently changed regulations around post-graduation work permits and dramatically reduced the ability of international students to access pathways to permanent residency. These combined changes have had a devastating impact on BC’s colleges and universities.

“We need a bold response from the government on the path forward for higher education in British Columbia. The government controls almost all aspects of our institutions but is now pretending they have no role in addressing this crisis,” said Michael Conlon, FPSE Executive Director. “The Minister and Deputy Minister continue to mislead our members and British Columbians about the tight control they exercise over our sector. They need to step up and
provide solutions to this crisis instead of peddling the half-truth that our institutions are autonomous,” concluded Conlon.

BC launched a post-secondary funding review in 2022, and FPSE, along with our sector partners, provided detailed submissions, but the government suddenly abandoned the review without any notice or communication. Despite this bizarre decision to ghost our members, the Minister has continued to reference the cancelled review in correspondence with the Langara Faculty Association and others as if it were a completed, credible review.

“Our members are losing patience with obfuscation and political games,” said Calvert. “We are ready to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the government to ensure we have a post-secondary education sector that meets the needs of all British Columbians,” concluded Calvert.

For further information or comment, please contact FPSE Executive Director Michael Conlon at (604) 873-8988 or info@fpse.ca.

FPSE is the provincial voice of 10,000 faculty and staff at BC’s universities, colleges, institutes, and private-sector institutions. We provide resources and access to legal services, and we engage in advocacy on behalf of our 18 member locals and the public post-secondary system.

March 3rd, 2025 Post-65 LTD Grievance 2025-01 | UPDATE

A. Summary of the current situation regarding the Okanagan College Faculty Association (OCFA) arbitration on Long-Term Disability Benefits (LTD)

Following the elimination of mandatory retirement, the Okanagan College Faculty Association (OCFA) asked Okanagan College to ensure that employees over age 65 would be entitled to benefits. The College refused, citing cost and the provincial government mandate, and told the OCFA that it would need to bargain that coverage in a net-zero mandate. That effectively meant that employees over age 65 would receive LTD benefits only if the OCFA was prepared to reduce other benefits.

The OCFA grieved that the College’s failure to provide LTD to employees over age 65 violated their collective agreement and the BC Human Rights Code. When the College responded that it was entitled to have a discriminatory bona fide LTD plan under s.13.3 of the Human Rights Code, the OCFA argued that the Code violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The arbitrator Arne Peltz released his award in September 2024.

A bona fide LTD plan is a plan that has been adopted in good faith, not maintained to defeat rights. The arbitrator found that Okanagan College did not have a bona fide LTD plan because it knew that it could get LTD
benefits for employees over 65, but it refused to do so because it would be an increased cost. An employer that requires (some) employees to bear the entire cost of LTD benefits is not providing a bona fide LTD plan.

The remedy ordered by the arbitrator is that Okanagan College “must take all reasonable steps to amend the Plan so that employees aged 65 and older have access to a meaningful LTD benefit. In doing so, the Employer should consult with the Union and maintain reasonable transparency into its decision-making”.

While the Award, which is currently being appealed by the Employer at both the Labour Board and at the Court of Appeal, is not binding on all post-secondary employers in BC, the Arbitrator’s reasoning clarified the law and
has implications beyond Okanagan College for the entire sector. We will not however have more clarity on the appeal by Okanagan College for 6 months to a year from now.

However, on the advice of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE), on January 31, 2025 I launched a policy grievance on LTD benefits for those who are post-65. A policy grievance is a grievance on a violation of the Collective Agreement that could impact all members or a category of such members covered by the agreement – in this case, those faculty who are 65 years old and older.

As the OCFA post-65 arbitration decision is being appealed, DCFA 2025-01 LTD policy grievance will be informed by the outcome of the relevant appeal processes. Please note that all grievance and arbitration processes take time; the OCFA grievance and arbitration case on LTD post-65 took over 10 years to complete. The appeals to the OCFA arbitral decision could take a year or longer.

B. When To Contact the DCFA
I am interested in hearing from ALL faculty who are 65 years of age and older. My email address is:
dcfa.kim.trainor@gmail.com
In particular, if you are potentially making a decision (or have made a decision) to take a reduced workload or to retire due to the loss of LTD or other extended health benefits, please let me know.

FPSE Statement on Funding Crisis at BC Colleges and Special Purpose Teaching Universities

For immediate release
November 14, 2024

The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) is calling on the provincial government to address the burgeoning funding crisis at our colleges and universities. The arbitrary and sudden policy shift by the federal government to cut the number of international students in Canada, along with other changes that make Canada a less attractive place to study, has created a fiscal crisis across our sector. This rapid shift has exposed a systemic weakness in the post-secondary funding model in BC and raised important questions about the future of our colleges and special purpose teaching universities.

In January, the federal government announced a 35% cut in new international student permits for 2024. Additional announcements followed in rapid succession, including a further 10% cut beginning in 2025, new limits on off-campus work hours for international students, and stricter eligibility requirements for post-graduation work permits (PGWPs). These latter restrictions are particularly onerous for graduates of public colleges, who are no longer eligible for PGWPs except under extremely limited labour market conditions. Most of these changes took effect promptly, long after enrolment and revenue projections had been made for the fiscal year at BC colleges and special purpose teaching universities.

The reality is that the provincial government encouraged the rapid growth of international student recruitment as an alternative to properly funding post-secondary institutions. Our Federation has continually warned of the risk of this approach in recent years, and our worst fears have now been realized. This crisis is a direct result of the province’s lack of planning and general neglect with respect to our sector. Faculty associations across the province are being summoned to meetings and briefed on job losses and program cuts. These cuts will gut the quality of post-secondary education in BC and undermine access to education across the province unless the government takes decisive action.

Five-Point Action Plan

We are calling on the provincial government to adopt a five-point action plan:

  1. Complete the abandoned funding formula review that was started in 2022 to provide for a stable, predictable model of funding.
  2. Create a hardship fund, in line with the $900 million set aside in Ontario, that institutions can access in order to ensure the ongoing quality and sustainability of programs designed to allow students to study in their own community.
  3. Allow institutions to draw down on reserves to maintain programming and course offerings.
  4. Aggressively lobby the federal government to moderate or eliminate some of these changes along with implementing a period of transition to allow institutions to adapt.
  5. Ensure that regional institutions are not adversely affected by these changes and that students in smaller communities are not forced to move or withdraw from a program all together.

We have already started this lobby campaign and intend to ramp up once the new cabinet is sworn in next week.

For further information or comment, please contact FPSE Executive Director Michael Conlon at (604) 873-8988 or info@fpse.ca.

FPSE is the provincial voice of 10,000 faculty and staff at BC’s universities, colleges, institutes, and private-sector institutions. We provide resources and access to legal services, and we engage in advocacy on behalf of our 18 member locals and the public post-secondary system.

Solidarity with McGill law professors
June 10, 2024

Delegates expressed their solidarity with members of the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL), who took to the picket lines on April 24 after more than a year and a half of stalled negotiations. More than 95% of the AMPL membership voted 76% in favour of an indefinite strike.

Fresh off the picket lines on the third day of Council, AMPL President Evan Fox-Decent thanked delegates for their support. On behalf of AMPL, he received a $1 million cheque for financial assistance from CAUT’s Defence Fund. 

https://www.caut.ca/latest/2024/05/april-advocate-solidarity-ampl-alberta-bill-18-no-confidence-vote-saint-marys-federal

You can help show your support for AMPL by taking any of the following actions:

Open Letter re: Naloxone
June 10, 2024

https://sidneyshouldbehere.ca/open-letter-to-2/

Solidarity Statement with Palestine
Nov. 17, 2023

We express our sincere solidarity to the people of Gaza as well as all our faculty colleagues, staff, and students with ties to Palestine. The suffering and escalating violence in Gaza is unconscionable and must stop.

On October 7th, Hamas attacked Israeli civilian populations, killing over 1,200 Israelis while also taking hostages. Since that day, and as of the time of writing, over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. Further, Israel has blockaded food, water, medicine, electricity, and fuel while bombing civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. This dire situation has been described by Jewish Voice for Peace as a genocide.

The DCFA recognizes and grieves Israeli and Palestinian lives that have been lost in this latest cycle of conflict We also recognize that the maintenance of a 75-year occupation involving illegal settlements and an apartheid settler colonial state have disproportionately affected the indigenous Palestinian population, with over 100,000 Palestinians displaced from Gaza since 2010 alone, and with political prisoners being held in Israel.

We are concerned the unfolding genocide will exacerbate anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We denounce hate groups seeking to capitalize on the loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives.

We call on all involved parties to achieve an immediate ceasefire, de-escalation of the conflict, passage for humanitarian aid, and release of hostages and political prisoners.

In solidarity,

ARAC (Anti-Racist Action Committee) Sources:

Jewish Voice for Peace. 2023. “As repression grows, so does solidarity.” https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/11/13/repression-and-solidarity/

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 2020. “Overview | 2010-2019: A decade in numbers.” https://www.ochaopt.org/page/publications1#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20a%20total%20of,the%20p ast%20decade%20to%203%2C624

Black Lives Matter Support Statement – Jan. 13, 2022

We, the DCFA Anti-Racism Action Committee, would like to extend our solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter Movement, and to support the general BIPOC communities.

We understand and recognize that this past summer, a spark was ignited which catapulted into the largest recorded Civil Rights movement in world history. Years of abuse, oppression, genocide, and mistreatment of Black and Indigenous peoples in the US, Canada, and around the world had taken its gruesome toll, and the murder of George Floyd was the final straw. We realize that this is not just an American problem, but it is most definitely a Canadian problem, as well as a global problem – let us not forget Regis Korchinski-Paquet, D’Andre Campbell, Sean Thompson, Abdirahman Abdi, and many more Black and Indigenous Canadian victims of police violence.

Since this movement began, many educational institutions, businesses, and organizations have come forward with their statements of solidarity, showing support for the Black Lives Matter Movement. We, the DCFA Anti-Racism Action Committee, acknowledge that we have a responsibility as members of the Douglas College community, to voice our own support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and as a newly formed committee, think it is important that this be our first action.

In times of great inequality and oppression, silence is complicity.

This is especially the case when coming from a position of great privilege. As an Educational Institution, entrusted with the education of our communities, Douglas College must be a leader in social movements. We call on the Douglas College community to publicly stand against police brutality and discrimination towards the Black and Indigenous communities. To stand against the current hate crimes that are happening towards the East Asian Community, as well as all forms of discrimination and bigotry towards the South Asian, Muslim, and Latinx communities, and any forms of racism that may exist in any way, shape, or form.

In addition, the DCFA Anti-Racism Action Committee calls upon the Douglas College administration to publicly announce their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, to pledge to be allies to everyone who is a part of the BIPOC community, and to promise to proactively support the change of policies and practices that perpetuate racism within Douglas College and the broader community.