BCGEU begins strike action at BC Liquor Distribution Centres

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the union was seeking an 11 per cent wage increase. It has been corrected to state that the 11 per cent was what was previously offered by the employer.

B.C. government workers are turning up the heat on the province. The BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) began strike action Monday afternoon.

After issuing strike notice on Friday, the union says picket lines went up at 3:30 p.m. Monday at BC Liquor Distribution Centres in a few cities across the province:

• Delta Distribution Centre (DDC)
• Kamloops Distribution Centre (KDC)
• Richmond Distribution Centre (RDC)
• Victoria Wholesale Customer Centre

 

The BCGEU says members at the Wholesale Customer Centre and the Customer Care Centre (Cannabis division) in Burnaby “will be included in the targeted job action but there will not be a picket line at that location.”

Employees of BC Liquor Stores (retail) and BC Cannabis Stores will continue to work as usual.

Meanwhile, B.C.’s minister of jobs and economic recovery is assuring people that they can rely on essential services being available.

Related Articles:

• B.C. restaurants may struggle to stock imported booze due to BCGEU strike

• BC General Employees’ Union serves strike notice on provincial government

Ravi Kahlon says the BC Labour Relations Board has “set interim essential services levels to protect the health, safety and welfare of people needing government services and supports. We appreciate the hardworking members of the Public Service, and we respect a union’s prerogative to initiate job action during the bargaining process.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, Kahlon says the government knows that public sector workers are concerned about inflation, and knows it disproportionately impacts low-income earners.

“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 wrote. “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.”

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

The union and its 33,000 members have previously been offered an 11 per cent wage increase by the province over the next three years under what would be a new collective agreement. Given the rising cost of living, the union has said that isn’t enough.

“Our members have been crystal clear since day one that their priority this round of bargaining was cost of living protection for their wages,” said BCGEU President Stephanie Smith in an earlier statement. “The bottom line is they’re not asking for anything that MLAs don’t already have.”

The most recent collective bargaining agreement expired in early April and since then talks haven’t really gone anywhere with the province.

The union says a total of almost 400,000 public sector workers have agreements that will, or already have, expired this year.