CSSEA was established by government to coordinate collective bargaining for publicly-funded employers in the sector. CSSEA negotiates three collective agreements in the sector. These collective agreements cover approximately 200 employers and close to 27, 000 employees working in community social services. The cost of labour under these collective agreements is approaching $1 billion so the provincial government remains invested in how this money is spent in collective bargaining.
The three agreements in the community social services sector are established by the Community Services Labour Relations Act and they are typically negotiated at the same time and with many common terms. Your organization is party to one of the three collective agreements based on the main services you provide: community living, Indigenous child and family, or general services (i.e., all other types of community social services). Individual employer and union collective agreements have not been negotiated in this sector since 1999, given the efficiency of group bargaining and the common interests that employers in this sector share with one another. Your organization has an influence in shaping the terms of your collective agreement by participating in the pre-bargaining feedback process, nominating representatives to sit on CSSEA’s divisional panel so they can join the bargaining committee to directly negotiate with the unions, and by participating in the ratification process of any tentative agreements reached by the bargaining committee. A representative of your organization can also be elected to shape CSSEA’s policies and strategic direction by participating in CSSEA governance through divisional panels and the Board of Directors.
CSSEA is one of six employers’ associations in BC, responsible for coordinating labour relations and human resources activity for the community social services sector. There are similar employer associations or representatives established for other public sectors where funding for services originates mainly from government, like health care, education, universities, and crown corporations. The mandate of all of the employer associations is determined by Section 6 of the Public Sector Employers Act. These mandates form the core of CSSEA’s responsibilities to your organization and to government. CSSEA is not an advocacy organization; rather, its legislated mandate is to coordinate activities for our sector in the following areas:
To carry out these mandated responsibilities, CSSEA currently has a total staffing complement of about 20, including the CEO, finance and administration, communications, membership, research and knowledge management, and human resources/labour relations services. The two departments that you will most typically have contact with are Research and Knowledge Management and Human Resources/Labour Relations.
The Human Resources/Labour Relations Department is a team of seven professionals who provide support to all of the roughly 200 members who have been regulated by government to be CSSEA members, in addition to another 100 employers who have opted to pay a non-member fee to secure a range of services from CSSEA staff. Each HRLR professional is the primary contact for a portfolio of member agencies, which continues to grow in number as more employers become unionized and regulated by government.
The HRLR professionals provide the following free services mandated by the Public Sector Employers Act:
CSSEA is the ultimate decision maker in matters that could impact on all members’ human resource practices (sector-wide implications).
Services Not Provided by HRLR
CSSEA’s HRLR team does not provide the following services:
From time to time, when CSSEA’s resources are stretched due to the provincial negotiations cycle, and/or staffing shortages, members may need to secure alternative representation. We recommend coordinating with CSSEA before doing so.
Steps to Take When Seeking Assistance from the HRLR team
Like you, we aim to work as efficiently as possible with the resources we have in order to deliver the mandated services. To that end, we have become more focused on developing and updating our online resources, and are continually adding to them. This allows managers to educate themselves and seek answers to a broad range of questions “on demand,” so that they can get the information they need when they need it.
This also allows for our staff to focus on providing value-added services when they are most needed. Our staff must prioritize their time between all employers in their portfolio. In addition to answering inquiries, their activities include engaging in litigation activities for members (frequently involving extensive preparation time prior to and during the hearing), collective bargaining, and resource development. Nevertheless, we will always aim to acknowledge your inquiries within 24 hours; given competing demands it may take longer to provide a complete answer to your inquiries.
Get the Most out of CSSEA
CSSEA recommends the following to get the most out of your relationship with your HRLR contact:
The Research and Knowledge Management department provides costing support to the collective bargaining process, so that CSSEA and the government fully understand how much funding will be needed to implement the collective agreements, and any changes made to them in bargaining.
Collective bargaining of the three agreements will always be concluded within the global funding mandate of government. CSSEA’s global costings on collective agreement settlements are based on the data provided by members in submitting their Compensation and Employee Turnover Reports. Our legislated mandate is to ensure that government knows how much money is required to fund the collective agreement settlements and other funding commitments made at the bargaining table. The data also informs PSEC and the various funding ministries/entities so that they can plan for the necessary allocations to many service contracts within their budgets.
The department also produces a number of human resource reports of interest to members. These include:
To provide these reports, the department depends on members to voluntarily provide human resource data to CSSEA. The higher the participation rates of members in data collection, the more accurately CSSEA can estimate the cost pressures arising from collective bargaining for funding purposes, and the more accurately the reports can be produced. CSSEA requests its members to complete the Compensation and Employee Turnover Report on an annual basis.
The Research and Knowledge Management department also provides job classifications support to member employers. When bargaining unit jobs are created or materially changed, the new or changed jobs are evaluated under the Joint Job Evaluation Plan (JJEP) for placement on the collective agreement wage schedule.
CSSEA’s Communications department keeps the membership connected with developments related to provincial bargaining, HRLR legislative news, research and knowledge management updates, and events. We communicate with members through a number of targeted publications, which are both e-mailed to the contacts designated by an agency’s Executive Director/CEO and posted on this website. Our main publications include:
AGM and Conference
CSSEA’s Communications department is also responsible for organizing the Annual General Meeting, which takes place in person and tackles yearly association business, including the selection (and potentially, election) of panel and board representatives. It is also the venue where resolutions may be proposed and discussed. The AGM takes place alongside a multi-day conference, which provides cost-effective workshops on a range of rotating HRLR topics that is appropriate for community social services leaders, from new leaders to Executive Directors and CEOs.
Community Social Services Awards of Excellence
The BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence sponsored by TELUS, were created in 2015 to celebrate successes in BC's publicly-funded community social services sector and to thank the incredible employees responsible for these successes.
Employees in the community social services sector play vital roles in providing care for people with physical, mental and developmental disabilities; at-risk youth; women experiencing family violence; and children who witness abuse. The creation of these awards is CSSEA’s way to acknowledge the incredible work being done in our sector.
CSSEA accepts nominations for the awards each spring and holds a luncheon during the Fall AGM and Conference to celebrate each year’s winners. Winners are selected in four categories:
Awards recipients are selected anonymously following a two-step process. This includes an initial short list selected by a CSSEA member panel, followed by one recipient from each category selected by a committee of volunteers representing the community, academia and business. Meet all our previous winners here.