BC General Employees’ Union serves strike notice on provincial government

The BC General Employees Union representing more than 30,000 government workers has issued a 72-hour strike notice Friday.

As of Monday, Aug. 15, the public service unit will be able to take job action from 2:46 p.m. onwards.

The most recent collective agreement between the union and the BC Public Service Agency (BCPSA) expired on April 1, and negotiations for a new collective agreement started in February.

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According to the union, bargaining reached an “impasse” on April 6, and 95 per cent of union members voted in favour of job action in June.

“Our members have been crystal clear since day one that their priority this round of bargaining was cost of living protection for their wages,” Stephanie Smith, BCGEU president and chair of the union’s public service bargaining committee said in a release.

“The bottom line is they’re not asking for anything that MLAs don’t already have. The strike vote in June and issuing strike notice today is a message to government that our members are serious.”

The union says that earlier this week, the PSA and the union went back to the bargaining table, however, the bargaining committee “unanimously decided a return to the table would not be fruitful at this time.”

In a statement to CityNews, the BCPSA says members of B.C.’s public sector are “hardworking people who deserve fair collective agreements, and we know that fair agreements will be reached through the collective bargaining process.”

“We respect a union’s prerogative to take a strike vote or job action during the course of the bargaining process,” the agency wrote.

The agency says it knows that workers are concerned about inflation, and those who are on the lower end of the pay scale are the hardest hit.

“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. We all want to see workers who are delivering our vital services with more money in their pockets sooner rather than later,” it said.

While the agency doesn’t know exactly how the union might undertake strike action, critical services will still be available for British Columbians.

“We remain committed to the collective bargaining process and reaching a fair agreement,” BCPSA wrote.