British ColumbiaSome of B.C.’s 34,000 public sector workers will begin job action Tuesday. Paul Finch, the B.C. General Employees’ Union president, isn’t revealing which public workers will be on strike, but urged the public to respect picket lines.Paul Finch, the B.C. General Employees’ Union president, won’t say which work sites will be affectedTessa Vikander · CBC News · Posted: Sep 01, 2025 6:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoMembers of the British Columbia General Employees’ Union will begin job action Tuesday after negotiations broke down in July. (Submitted by BCGEU)Some of B.C.’s 34,000 public sector workers will begin job action Tuesday, but those who know the details are remaining tight-lipped.The job action comes after at the British Columbia General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) voted 92.7 per cent in favour of strike action last week.Union president Paul Finch wouldn’t reveal which public workers would strike, but urged the public to respect picket lines”If you see a picket line, do not cross that picket line, and of course, your support throughout this is appreciated,” he said.Paul Finch, president of the B.C. General Employees’ Union, said many members live paycheque-to-paycheque. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)Workers taking job action could include wildland firefighters, social workers, correctional officers and sheriffs, administrative professionals, conservation officers, court workers and scientists, among others.The union has not met with the province for negotiations since it announced its plan for strike action on Friday, but said it’s open to doing so.”The province has not indicated that they’re going to come back with a revised wage mandate,” he said.Negotiations broke down in July and the strike vote was held in August.Key among the union’s demands are increased wages to address the rising cost of living and remote work options. BCGEU members earn 2.7 per cent less than the average wage in the province, and 22 per cent are working a second or third job to make ends meet, Finch said.”Half of them report, you know, that they’re not able to get ahead, that they’re actually living paycheque to paycheque,” he said.The right to strikeLabour Minister Jennifer Whiteside declined to comment on the specifics of the dispute, saying she wanted to leave those discussions at the bargaining table “where they belong.” Whiteside and the provincial government support the right to strike, she said.”We have enormous respect and gratitude for all of our public service workers.… We also are a government that believes strongly in the right of workers to organize, to engage in collective bargaining and to engage in job action,” she said.Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside said the government respects the right of the workers to strike. (Nav Rahi/CBC)Finch said the union, which is primarily negotiating with Brenda Bailey, the minister of finance, hopes the government will get on board with its vision.”The ask towards government right now is they need to read the room. They need to understand the cost of living challenges in this province.”Tough position for allJustin Wiltshire, assistant professor of economics at the University of Victoria, said that while workers have understandable wage demands, the province’s financial situation is precarious.”The unfortunate reality is that the growth of B.C.’s public sector has been so rapid recently that large across-the-board wage increases are not feasible,” he said in an email.Wiltshire said it’s debatable whether the growth of the public sector was the right call given that British Columbians are feeling that service levels have not improved.A labour professor says that the B.C. public service has seen increases in recent years, and a wage bump may not be palatable for some residents. (Michael McArthur/CBC)A possible solution, he said, would be to raise taxes; however, this would cause strain on citizens already struggling with affordability.In Wiltshire’s analysis, a strike that lasts for more than a couple weeks might not lead to significant gains but a “very short strike” could get “marginal gains” for the union.”The government, meanwhile, would do best to try to find concessions on workforce reductions — though this would also be a hard sell, politically, to its supporters, as the BCGEU would almost certainly cast this as the government trying to ‘cut services,'” he said.”No one’s going to come out of this happy, I’m afraid.”Finch said any disruptions to essential services — those that safeguard health and welfare — will only happen at sites until after a 72-hour notice period.ABOUT THE AUTHORTessa Vikander is a CBC News reporter covering local and national news. Previously she reported for Toronto Star, Reuters, IndigiNews and CTV News. You can contact her at tessa.vikander@cbc.ca.With files from Pinki Wong and The Early Edition
B.C. public workers to start job action Tuesday, union says
