Monday September 8, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated September 9, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
BCGEU job action will escalate this week with about 1,000 BCGEU more members out on strike starting Tuesday, including in Victoria, Nanaimo, Surrey, Kamloops, Williams Lake, Kelowna, Cranbrook, Nelson, Fort St John, and Smithers.
The picket line in Prince George has been cancelled due to air quality concerns; BCGEU President Peter Finch will join picket lines in Kamloops and Kelowna.
That will bring the number of workers on picket lines to more than 4,000 across 22 sites. That’s up from the 2,600 workers who were first on the picket lines on September 2.
Today there were picket lines in Vancouver (one downtown location), Prince George (one location), Surrey (one location) and Victoria (seven locations).
Tomorrow marks the second week of job action. BCGEU President Paul Finch said today that the Province did not come to the bargaining table in Victoria last week.
“We’re going to keep escalating” until a fair wage is achieved, said Finch. “To this point we have prioritized not impacting the general public, we’ve prioritized impacting core government services. After a while, if government does not come to the table, that will change.”
“We’re standing strong and we’re going to be here as long as it takes,” said the BCGEU president today.
The union’s wage demand is for 4% more in year one and 4.25% in year two.
Background:
BCGEU says their job action is about campaigning for fair wages and what the union calls a modernized contract for more than 34,000 bargaining unit members working for B.C.’s public service.
Negotiations between the BCGEU and the BC Public Service Agency (PSA) began on January 22 of this year but broke down on July 18, as reported by BCGEU. A strike vote was held August 11 to 29.
When on strike, BCGEU members receive only strike pay, not their full wages. Balancing that against the BCGEU determined need to fight for higher wages falls within the broader ‘cost of living / affordability’ challenge that many workers are facing in BC.
The BC Government (Premier and finance minister) both said last week that budget decisions taken by the government must be in the best interest of all British Columbians.
Both statements indicate a holding of the line on wages for some sectors over others as the trade war continues with the United States and Canada begins a long journey to economic diversification with far less dependence on the United States.
Eby added that BC will be “the engine of the new economy” with emphasis on economic development and resource development.
Being free from dependence on the United States will increase BC and Canada’s prosperity as a whole, Eby said last Thursday.
What the union wants:
Key demands of BCGEU include resolving an ongoing recruitment and retention crisis in the public service through:
- Competitive wages that address the affordability crisis facing public service workers.
- Fair access to telework.
- A modernized contract with a classification system that more fairly values their work.
- An improved process to review and limit excluded positions, restore a reasonable ratio of excluded-to-union positions, and protect union jobs.
===== RELATED:
- BCGEU strike escalation announcement coming Sept 8 (September 7 & 8, 2025)
- Gentle strike escalation on third day of BCGEU job action (September 4, 2025)
- BCGEU strike starts Sept 2 with picket lines in three cities (September 1, 2025)
- BC premier, NDP & prime minister articulate important needs on Labour Day (September 1, 2025)
- BCGEU public sector workers could strike by Sept 2 (August 30, 2025)
- BCGEU strikers joined by PEA at downtown Victoria street rally (August 17, 2022)
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