‘As long as it takes’: Union escalates B.C. public service strike

VANCOUVER — Strike action by public service workers from the BC General Employees’ Union entered its third day with pickets in front of a Vancouver building that houses a Ministry of Finance office, and the union president says more strike action will come.

Paul Finch joined striking workers who wore placards and shouted slogans, one with the help of a megaphone, on Thursday.

Finch said it was part of an escalation to compel the government back to the bargaining table.

“We’re going to continue to escalate as necessary,” Finch said. “The government’s refused to come back with an enhanced offer.”

Finch said the union’s members are willing to strike for “as long as it takes” to get a fair deal from the provincial government, but he said the two sides are a “fair distance apart.”

Premier David Eby said Thursday that the government’s goal is to reach a deal that’s both fair to unionized workers and “fair to taxpayers.”

“We’re facing significant fiscal headwinds,” Eby said at an unrelated news conference in Surrey, B.C. “Government workers did very well in the last round of negotiations, keeping up with and exceeding inflation, making sure that there was support for workers in the province. We’re just not able to do that this time around.”

Finch said the provincial government is “short of the mark” on its contract offer, and pointed to the union’s counterparts in Alberta

“Premier Daniel Smith, you know, is offering a much higher wage increase to civil servants there, so I’m not going to elaborate on what that needs to be,” he said. “The government knows they need to come back to the table.

“We’re just waiting for that.”

But Eby said the government is giving workers a fair agreement, pointing to the recent “framework agreement” with the Hospital Employees’ Union as an example of how government is delivering.

“We have to understand as a province, which includes government workers, that we’re going to have to work together and find a fair deal, be creative, but respect to taxpayers as well,” Eby said.

The BCGEU has expressed “disappointment” with the government’s framework agreement with the Hospital Employees’ Union, and Finch said Thursday that it’s not a deal at all.

“They decided to announce the concept of a deal or concept of the plan, but we haven’t seen any deal,” he said. “We’re not sure what the announcement was.”

“I think everyone is just wondering why you go out and release a statement in co-ordination with the government when you don’t have a deal,” he added.

A Finance Ministry spokesperson said the hospital workers agreement includes a 3.5 per cent wage increase over two years, although union and employers are still negotiating other parts of the agreement.

The agreement was negotiated under the government’s so-called balanced measures mandate, which is also its framework for negotiating with the BCGEU.

The HEU said in a news release last week that the framework agreement commits to correct “historic wrongs” by the former B.C. Liberal government that cut wages to its members in 2004.

The BCGEU is seeking improved wages and says there’s no indication the provincial government’s Public Service Agency is willing to get back to negotiations with an improved offer.

The employees’ union, which represents about 34,000 public service workers, said more than 2,600 members joined pickets in Victoria, Surrey and Prince George in the first phase of job action.

Finch said last week that the union was seeking a four per cent wage increase in the first year of a new contract and 4.25 per cent in the second year, plus cost-of-living allowances.

The government has said it wants to get back to talks but has not said what it has offered to the union.

One of the placards worn by a striking worker in Vancouver on Thursday said, “2% is for milk.”

Negotiations broke off in July.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press