Picket lines have gone up at three locations in B.C. as the BC General Employees Union (BCGEU) gets ready to launch a strike.
The pickets are set up outside the Jack Davis building in Victoria, a Service BC building in Surrey and a Child and Family Services Centre in Prince George.
In addition, a surprise picket line has been erected outside the Royal BC Museum in Victoria.
ICBC says its licensing services at the Guildford Corporate Centre in Surrey are unavailable on Tuesday, Sept. 2 due to a BCGEU picket line.
As a result, all appointments at this location are cancelled.
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The BCGEU is not sharing any other specific details about what the job action will look like.
Wages remain a key factor in the labour dispute. The union’s president says no new negotiations took place over the weekend.
“I’m here ready to bargain with my whole bargaining team,” BCGEU president Paul Finch said.
“The whole committee is here. They’re committed. The government doesn’t have a revised offer. Their last offer, which they haven’t moved off of, is unacceptable to our membership and frankly it’s unacceptable to British Columbians.”
The last BCGEU strike was in 2022, where union members set up picket lines outside B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch warehouses, effectively disrupting deliveries of alcohol and cannabis.
B.C.’s Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside told Global News that the issues will be solved at the bargaining table.
“We know the best deals are found at the bargaining table,” she said. “That’s the process that will happen here and in every other dispute we’re experiencing across the province.”
On Monday afternoon, B.C.’s Minister of Finance, Brenda Bailey, said there were discussions underway about getting back to the table involving representatives from both sides.
“I think that this government has a strong history of being a fair partner to labour and it certainly is our intention that we will continue to ensure fair wages and fair working conditions to the labour workers in British Columbia,” she said.
“These are folks that provide incredibly important services and we value them very highly and we also need to ensure that any deal that is reached is fair to all British Columbians. And in the context of the global challenges that we’re facing right now, particularly the trade war, we believe that this is a fair mandate that we are operating within.”
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