Wednesday October 15, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
News commentary by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
This is now the seventh week of job action by public service workers that are represented by both the BCGEU and the PEA.
Now over 1,000 PEA members and nearly 25,000 BCGEU members are on picket lines across the province.
Impact across multiple ministries:
The BCGEU said in a news release today that they “continue to uphold all essential service requirements” but also “warns that government inaction is deepening the impact on communities across the province”.
As of October 9 (just before the Thanksgiving long weekend), there were over 22,6000 BCGEU members at 473 worksites fully or partially on strike. That brings the number of fully struck ministries and services to 19, says BCGEU.
This of course impacts the public who rely on services by now a service impact to: BC Pension Corporation; Citizens’ Services (including Service BC); Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE); Education and Child Care; Employment Standards Branch; Energy and Climate Solutions; Finance; Forest Practices Branch; Housing and Municipal Affairs; Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation; Infrastructure; Jobs and Economic Growth’ Liquor Distribution Branch (including all BC Liquor and BC Cannabis stores, the LDB warehouses and headquarters); Mining and Critical Minerals; Office of the Premier; Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills; Royal BC Museum; Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport; and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.
Continued negotiations:
BCGEU says in a news release today that their bargaining committee remains “ready to return to the table as soon as government presents a fair, revised wage offer”.
But the action of being on strike seems to be losing its overall impact, at least seems to have lost a sense of urgency for politicians.
BC Premier David Eby still seems pretty chill about it given that he continues to tell media at any opportunity that the province needs to be fair to all British Columbians — a message repeated by BC Finance Minister Brenda Bailey including at the UBCM convention in Victoria last month.
The strategy of putting pressures on third-party sectors (such as making liquor less available to restaurants and liquor stores by strikes as BC Liquor Distribution Branch locations) may not have the anticipated supportive impact that it has in the past.
As well, there is the human impact on employees who are striking (and their families) as personal resources for some (or many) begin to experience strain. Ironically, it is the very increase in the cost of living that BCGEU says it wants to achieve wage increases to cover that will possibly see the bottom fall out of the strike action as BCGEU members run out of ability to finance their own personal lives while being on strike.
Target pay (higher than basic strike pay) was only available to members on picket lines for the first four weeks of the strike. The strike began September 2.
Press conference on Thursday:
BCGEU stated in a news release today October 15 that their media strategy “has ensured the media spotlight stays on our message while preventing the employer from diverting attention or reshaping the narrative”. However, balanced reporting must of course include the government’s viewpoint.
BCGEU’s president Paul Finch will hold a press conference in Victoria tomorrow morning (October 16), along with PEA executive director Melissa Moroz and BCFED president Sussanne Skidmore.
===== RELATED:
- BCGEU strike impact on restaurants gets relayed to BC premier by BCRFA (October 15, 2025)
- BCGEU rally in Victoria Oct 6: how much can it move the needle? (October 6, 2025)
- Preparing BC Budget 2026 with input from municipalities and economists – Finance Minister Brenda Bailey at UBCM (September 29, 2025)
- NEWS SECTION: BCGEU | 43rd BC PARLIAMENT | JOBS & EMPLOYMENT