The B.C. General Employees’ Union says talks with the provincial government over a new contract have stalled.
The union told Global News it will be consulting with its 33,000 members, educating them on potential options and a possible strike vote.
“Unfortunately, talks now… We are at an impasse,” said Stephanie Smith, BCGEU’s president.
“One thing (our members) were consistent about, was that we really had to address cost of living adjustments and inflation protections,” said Smith.
“That’s what we’ve tabled as far as our wage proposal goes. Unfortunately the proposal from the employer is less than half of what we are seeing in cost of living.”
The province’s offer is a three-year deal, including almost six-per cent wage increases over the term of the contract. The union is asking for a two year deal, each year with a raise of five per cent or the raise of inflation — whichever is higher.
“We were pretty shocked. I think it’s disappointing to see how out of touch the employer is with the current circumstances,” said Smith.
“Our world has changed substantially over the past two years; this isn’t like negotiating in 2018. We’ve had the pandemic and our members have been on the front line of that pandemic, they’ve been supporting the people of B.C. and have kept the economy going the past two years.”
Another union that is looking for a new contract is the B.C. Nurses Union, whose contract expired in late March.
It has not begun negotiations yet but have identified its top priorities for a potential new contract.
“(We want) safe staffing levels, fair wages, respect for our nurses, mental health supports for nurses, workplace safety, as well as workload concerns (addressed). We are hearing from many, many sites across the province that they are working so short, working with maybe one nurse on out of nine during a shift,” said Aman Grewal, BCNU’s president.
Global News has heard from non-union employees, who work at Kelowna General Hospital, that some have been asked to potentially fill other job duties if a strike were to take place such as administrative staff being asked to do housekeeping.
Interior Health declined an interview on the topic.
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