BCGEU issues 72-hour strike notice after 93% vote to back job action

One of British Columbia’s biggest public sector unions has issued a 72-hour strike notice after members overwhelmingly backed job action.

“More than 34,000 members of the BCGEU working for the public service have secured an overwhelming mandate for fair wages and for an agreement that reflects the resources they need to serve the public,” B.C. General Employees Union president Paul Finch said on Friday.

“Ninety-two-point-seven per cent of members voted in favour of taking this action, and 86.4 per cent of eligible members voted, That is an overwhelming mandate,”

More than 34,000 BCGEU members have been without a collective agreement since April.

Negotiations with the public service agency began in April, but both sides hit an impasse on July 18.

The union says talks broke down over wages, remote work and a “modernized contract.”

“This emphatic strike result reflects the seriousness of the affordability crisis our members are facing — the need for fair wages to address that crisis,” Finch said.

“The message from our members is clear. We are united, and we are ready to take job action.”

Finch said the province had indicated there would be no new offers this week, and as a result, the union was issuing a 72-hour strike notice, with job action effective at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

4:26 BCGEU president announces results of strike vote

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The Government Licensed Professionals (GLP), which represent about 1,800 licensed professionals, engineers, foresters, geoscientists, psychologists, and other specialized experts, also announced plans to issue a strike notice on Friday.

Finch said about half of BCGEU members are living paycheque to paycheque, and that the province’s last offer was for increases below the projected rate of inflation.

The union, he said, is seeking 4 per cent in year one followed by 4.25 per cent in year two, with a cost of living allowance clause.

Responding to the strike notice, B.C. Government House Leader Mike Farnworth said the public can be assured that services protecting health and safety would not be disrupted, due to an essential services agreement in place.

But he would not speak to what the province’s final offer to union members had been.

“The right to strike vote and to initiate strike can be and is a normal part of the collective bargaining process,” he said.

“But we also know that the best agreements are always reached in bargaining and negotiations.”

Finch declined to share details about which union members could be on the picket lines on Tuesday, barring a negotiated breakthrough.

“We have taken great care with our strike planning in the event we do have to strike. Obviously, our hope is that the government comes back with a revised wage mandate.  That hasn’t happened yet,” he said.

0:52 BCGEU employees union members heading to strike vote

The BCGEU’s public service bargaining unit last took job action in 2022, resulting in a two-week strike targeting the B.C. Liquor Distribution Warehouses that disrupted alcohol and cannabis sales.

On Thursday, the province and the Hospital Employees’ Union announced the 60,000 member Facilities Bargaining Association had reached a framework aimed at reversing wage cuts imposed by the former BC Liberal government over the union’s next two collective agreements.

“It is a commitment from the government and a recognition from the government to correct historic wrongs that have undermined public health-care workers for more than 20 years,” HEU secretary business manager Lynn Bueckert said.

“That’s a commitment on these issues. We still are bargaining our tentative agreement, which the framework will be a part of. And at the end of the day, our members make the decision.”

The BCGEU criticized the deal, saying it was “below inflation and undermines the very fight that public service workers across B.C. are taking on together for fair wages and respect.”

More to come…