A Timeline of Success

Every post-secondary worker has made our collective history possible. Working together has always been our federation's strength, and we've achieved a lot over fifty years. We've connected educators with each other to share information and learn from each other. We've improved working conditions for our coworkers and future generations. We've shaped public policy through constantly pushing for education to be affordable and accessible across the province. None of this would be possible without unions. The faculty and staff unions who make up our federation have made our post-secondary system, and our province, better.

Scroll down to learn about the milestones in FPSE's history. Then, click the button to show the broader labour history and scroll down again to see how it all fits together.

March 1970

After several meetings to draft a constitution for a BC Federation of College Faculty Associations, an inaugural AGM took place in Vancouver over the Easter long weekend on March...

1971

Member locals grew, as Cariboo College Faculty Association joined the CFF, and Columbia College and BCIT faculty applied for associate membership. This brought their numbers to seven locals and...

1972

The Collective Bargaining Defence Committee was established to counter the Social Credit government's attack on workers in limiting collective bargaining rights. It was made up of the following unions...

1972

Douglas College Faculty Association and Camosun College Faculty Association joined, bringing CFF membership to 9 locals. 45 delegates attended the AGM.

1972

The CFF AGM & Society for Vocational Instructors Educational Conference was held at Okanagan Regional College. One of the issues the CFF had to deal with from the beginning...

October 1974

The CFF held a Special General Meeting on October 19. The morning panel focussed on the implications of the Vancouver Instructors' Association (later called the VCCFA) strike in September...

1975

The CFF hired its first staff member, Director of Research and Field Organizer (DORAFO), Eric Green. Eric had previously worked as a journalist and, during the NDP government, for...

1977

The CFF continued its growth with the addition of North Island and Fraser Valley FAs. After months of speculation, the SoCreds introduced Bill 82, Colleges and Provincial Institutes Act,...

1977

The Social Credit government passed the first Colleges and Provincial Institutes Act. It began the process of centralizing post-secondary education. In an attempt to undermine the new faculty unions,...

1978

At an AGM hosted by Douglas College FA, in Richmond, delegates decided to end the DORAFO position and to budget for legal advice. They also opted to bring part-time...

1982

The Bill Bennett Social Credit government introduced draconian budget cuts. CIEA joined with the BCTF, Association of University & College Employees, CUPE, Vancouver Municipal & Regional Employees Union, &...

1980

After two years of study, debate and drafting, the CFF gave way to the College Institute Educators Association. At its end, the CFF had 1217 members, with BCIT and...

1981

The theme of the 1981 AGM was "Professionalism and Unionism", encompassing what many believed to be incompatible in the 1970s. Two more members had joined since 1980 - the...

1983

Bill Bennett's SoCreds were re-elected on May 5, 1983. On July 7, the government introduced 26 bills stripping labour rights, rent controls, scrapping the Employment Standards Branch and the...

1984

The Status of Women Standing Committee was established, after an ad hoc committee did considerable research. Members of the committee made sure their presidents voted the right way by...

September 1986

Bill Bennett stepped down as premier before the 1986 election, and Bill Vander Zalm took over. The election was called on September 24 before election day, October 22. CIEA...

October 1986

At the AGM held in Nelson at the soon to be closed David Thompson University, CIEA became a provincial union. It consisted of a strike and lockout defence fund,...

October 1986

The Capilano College Faculty Association went on strike in October and November of 1986 for better wages and to protest the unreasonable workloads they were now facing as a result...

April 1987

In early April 1987, the SoCred government introduced Bills 19, the new Industrial Relations Act and 20, the Teachers Act. Read more on the BCTF website here. Locals had...

1989

CIEA also welcomed the Langara Faculty Association back as Local 14, and the Vancouver Instructors Association also joined as Local 15. But the decade ended with a strike at...

1991

The status of Non-Regular Faculty Committee was established. One of the chief bargaining priorities since the 70s had been equity for part-time instructors, called non-regulars, because they were not...

September 1991

Building off of the "Profile for the 90s" campaign that had been endorsed at the 1990 AGM, CIEA partnered with the CFS and CUFA BC in a province-wide campaign...

1992

After working on a model since 1988, with Technical & Policy Development conferences and AGM workshops, 8 locals (CNC, Malaspina, Okangan, Selkirk, AWU, Langara, VCC & North Island) formed...

1993

On the bargaining front, the Korbin Commission was appointed to look into the structure of negotiations with provincial public-sector employees. In 1993, the commission reported that many alleged that...

1994

The legislature passed Bill 22, an amendment to the College & Institute Act establishing Education Councils and providing for the election of constituency representatives on College Boards. The CFF...

1996

Round 2 of Coordinated Bargaining began, now with the BCGEU. As pressure rose with short two-day rotating strikes, the government brought the eight locals, BCGEU instructors, their employers, and...

1996

Charting a New Course - In June 1995, the Harcourt government convened representatives from CIEA, BCGEU, CFS (BC), institutions & the ministry to develop a plan for the college...

1998

Fourteen CIEA locals were joined by seven BCGEU locals and sixteen employers. The parties started bargaining in March, took a break in May for the summer; resumed in September...

1999

Nicola Valley Institute of Technology Employees' Association and the Association of BC Education Professionals joined CIEA as Locals 19 and 20. In 2000, Local 99 was renamed Local 21...

2000

CIEA joined the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and, after six years as members of the BC Federation of Labour, also joined the Canadian Labour Congress through the National...

2001

At the end of the NDP's second term, employers sought to limit the number of items bargained at the Common Table and the parties spent weeks narrowing the issues...

2002

CIEA faculty were hit by the first four sections of Bill 28, the Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act, part of the Liberals’ attack on labour, which stripped collective...

2004

In March 2004, Premier Campbell and UBC President Martha Piper announced that UBC would be taking over OUC's north campus, leaving a reconfigured college with the KLO campus in...

2004 -

Since 2004, it's been a tough climate for bargaining, with many years of provincial mandates limiting wage increases to 0%. 2004-2007 | saw a net zero mandate (0%-0%-2.1% at the...

2005

The VCCFA Supreme Court victory. At a March 5, 2002 Education Council meeting a faculty rep at VCC suggested that proposed standardization of the lengths of ELS courses should...

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