British ColumbiaThousands of striking workers and their supporters marched from Victoria’s city hall to the B.C. Legislature on Monday as the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) strike entered its sixth week. Thousands of striking workers march to B.C. Legislature Monday as job action enters 6th weekCBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2025 1:54 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoThousands of people turned out in Victoria on Monday to rally for higher wages for public service workers. (Kathryn Marlow/CBC)Thousands of striking workers and their supporters marched from Victoria’s city hall to the B.C. Legislature on Monday as the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) strike entered its sixth week. In a news release, the union said it was joined by members of the Professional Employees Association, United Food and Commercial Workers, the National Union of Public and General Employees and the B.C. Federation of Labour, calling on the province to return to the bargaining table.”We brought our bargaining demands straight to the government’s doorstep,” BCGEU president Paul Finch said in the release. “We won’t back down, we won’t be divided, and we won’t stop until we win a fair deal.” The union said 22,000 of its 34,000 workers are now involved in job action across the province, including those from government-run liquor and cannabis stores, the liquor distribution branch and commercial vehicle safety and enforcement weigh scales. Hundreds rallied for public sector workers in Victoria on Oct. 6, 2025. The BCGEU is demanding higher wages as job action enters its sixth week. (Kathryn Marlow/CBC)Finch said the rally “is just the beginning” of escalating job action.The strike is the BCGEU’s most significant in 40 years, Finch said — and negotiations aren’t going well. “They’re nonexistent,” he told CBC’s The Early Edition. “It’s unfortunate government won’t come back to the table and negotiate.”Negotiations resumed briefly on Sept. 29, but Finch said the province presented a contract that had changed very little compared to its previous offer. The union is demanding a four per cent wage increase in each year of a two-year agreement.Finch said union members are already starting to “withdraw” support for the B.C. New Democrats, a party associated with labour rights, in a push to force the government back to the table with a “reasonable offer.” Premier David Eby said last week that his government’s latest offer was five per cent over two years, but the BCGEU says that figure bundles in market adjustments and other factors, and isn’t a direct increase to general wages. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey told The Canadian Press that the government respects the rights of workers to strike, and hopes to get back to the bargaining table soon. WATCH | BCGEU strike escalates in Vancouver:BCGEU continues striking after talks with the B.C. government break downThousands of union members from B.C. General Employees’ Union and other union groups rallied in Vancouver to push for what they call a fair deal for public servants. As CBC’s Pinki Wong reports, talks between BCGEU and the government broke down almost immediately after getting back to the negotiating table.The rally in B.C.’s capital comes as the fall session begins at the legislature, and as the NDP government tries to make up a provincial deficit that has now soared to $12 billion. Last week, hundreds of public sector workers marched through downtown Vancouver in support of the BCGEU, including members of the Professional Employees Association, B.C. Nurses’ Union and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, in what the BCGEU called a show of solidarity with its workers.With files from The Early Edition and The Canadian Press
BCGEU negotiations ‘non-existent,’ president says, as workers rally at B.C. legislature
