BCGEU job action: Unclear when talks between province, union will resume

Picket lines remain up Tuesday at four Liquor Distribution Centres in the province as the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) pushes the province to get back to the bargaining table. The two sides have had a rocky rapport since talks first broke down in February and government workers voted in favour of taking job action roughly two months ago.

As of now, the BCGEU says there are no new talks scheduled with Victoria and it can’t promise the public won’t eventually be affected if negotiations don’t resume.

“My hope is when government or employers see just how resolved our members are to get the deal they deserve, that they will call us back to the table with a meaningful proposal on cost-of-living adjustments and wage protections,” said BCGEU President Stephanie Smith.

“If we need to escalate, our members are prepared to do so. I can’t reveal our cards, but our bargaining committee does talk strategy and what we think might be the next step. We could be looking at overtime bans, or work-to-rule further down the road or potentially more picket lines — we haven’t made that decision yet.”

She’s not worried about this dragging on for a while.

“We haven’t seen levels of solidarity like this amongst the broader labour movement ever before and we know government can afford this and it’s just going to take that phone call to get us back to the table. We aren’t asking for anything that all of those politicians in government and in fact politicians of every stripe in Victoria are afforded themselves. Their wages are tied to rates of inflation.”

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

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,” adding he “respects a union’s prerogative to initiate job action during the bargaining process.”

The provincial government is offering an 11 per cent wage increase over a new three-year collective agreement, but Smith says that’s not what they’re looking for.

“What our members told us that they need to see in this round of bargaining is wage increases that reflect just how expensive life has become here in our province and allows them to catch up and, very importantly, they need to see that there is protection for those wages against things like rates of inflation. So, cost of living adjustments built into the collective agreement or COLA,” she explained.

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• BCGEU begins strike action at BC Liquor Distribution Centres

Money aside, she says getting to the point of a breakdown in talks is taking a toll on BCGEU members.

“I think 33,000 people, 33,000 feelings ranging from anger to disgust, disappointment. Some are extremely bewildered. They kept the lights on and the wheels turning over the last two years … providing those critical services that people in our province rely on, are going to be incredibly important moving into the future through our economic recovery, and yet this is where they’re at when it comes to asking for a collective agreement that recognizes their contribution over the last two years.”

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

In a statement Monday afternoon, Minister Kahlon said 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. 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,” he said.

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

With files from Charlie Carey