The British Columbia General Employees’ Union says it will set up picket lines at four BC Liquor Distribution Branch wholesale and distribution centres as it begins targeted job action.
The union, which represents about 33,000 public-service workers across B.C., issued strike notice Friday and is to be in a legal strike position by this afternoon.
It says picket lines will go up at 3:30 p.m., outside liquor distribution centres in Delta, Richmond and Kamloops, as well as the wholesale customer centre in Victoria.
A statement from the union says retail liquor and cannabis stores are not part of this job action, but the cannabis division of the Burnaby customer care centre is included, although a picket line won’t be set up there.
“We wanted to be really thoughtful but very impactful, so our bargaining committee looked at what services we could withdraw from that might really incentivize our employer, the government, to invite us back to the table with a really serious offer,” said BCGEU president Stephanie Smith in a Monday interview.
“We’re hoping this action will be enough to get the employer to invite us back to talk about wage protection against rates of inflation — that’s what our members are looking for. If they don’t, we’ll have to consider escalation.”
The contract between the BCGEU and the Public Service Agency (PSA) expired April 1 and there have been sporadic talks since April 6, but the union rejected an invitation from the agency for another meeting last week, saying it would “not be fruitful.”
The province had tabled an offer with increases of 1.5 per cent in 2022, two per cent in 2023, and two per cent in 2024. The BCGEU’s proposal featured increases of five per cent or inflation — whichever is higher — in 2022 and in 2023.
In a written statement, the PSA said it respects the union’s right to take job action in the course of the bargaining process, and acknowledges that workers — especially those on the “lower end of the pay scale” — are concerned about inflation.
“The mandate seeks to address the economic uncertainty and rising costs of inflation as best we can, and provides an extra lift to the lowest paid workers,” it wrote Friday. “We all want to see workers who are delivering our vital services with more money in their pockets sooner rather than later.”
Critical services, the PSA added, will continue to be available to the public through processes required by the BC Labour Relations Board.
“We remain committed to the collective bargaining process and reaching a fair agreement,” the PSA said.
British Columbia’s Alliance of Beverage Licensees, meanwhile, said it’s “pretty upset” by the BCGEU’s choice of picket line location, unsure what ramifications it will have on their bar, pub and private liquor store members. While they can still buy domestic wine, spirits and beer right from the source, executive director Jeff Guignard said there’s nowhere else to get imported products than from the liquor distribution centres.
“What the BCGEU has done here by protesting and putting up picket lines outside of the wholesale distribution centres — they’ve brought the entire B.C. liquor industry, and $15 billion of economic activity, into their fight,” he told Global News.
“If this goes on long enough, consumers can expect to see some stock outs probably as well.”
On Monday, B.C. Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province remains “committed to the collective bargaining process and to reaching a fair and reasonable agreement.”
Its latest monetary proposal to the union, the 2022 Shared Recovery Mandate, would see the average BCGEU member earning a wage increase of up to 10.99 per cent over a three-year term, according to the province. It includes an increase of 25 cents per hour in the first year and a raise of three per cent, plus another 25 cents an hour and a 2.5-per-cent increase in the second year, and a guaranteed three per cent raise, and conditional raise of up to another one per cent in the third year.
“Our government’s Shared Recovery Mandate offers the most generous wage increase in at least the last 30 years and seeks to help address the economic uncertainty we are all experiencing and the rising costs of inflation,” he said in an emailed statement.
“It provides an extra lift to the lowest paid workers who are hardest hit during periods of high inflation, and is designed to provide workers with money in their pockets sooner rather than later, with a $2,500 upfront payment to help with costs right now and some additional cost of living protections in the final year.”
— With files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Richard Zussman