{"id":335258,"date":"2025-10-27T03:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T03:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335258\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T03:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T03:54:11","slug":"b-c-public-service-union-reach-tentative-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335258\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C., public service union reach tentative deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

BC General Employees’ Union members picket outside of a B.C. provincial liquor store in Vancouver, on Oct. 10.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The BC General Employees\u2019 Union announced Sunday a tentative deal with the provincial government to end a strike that has disrupted services across the province for the last eight weeks. <\/p>\n

Some 25,000 workers have been on strike since early September, with escalating job action slowing or shuttering everything from student aid delivery to liquor distribution. <\/p>\n

The two sides entered mediation last week, and early Sunday morning signed off on a deal that union president Paul Finch described as \u201csignificant progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tentative agreement provides for wage increases of 3 per cent a year for four years, and other measures including improved vision and counselling benefits, stronger job protections and updated provisions for telework.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement is a step toward fairness,\u201d Mr. Finch said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps ensure that experienced public service workers can afford to stay in their jobs and continue delivering the critical services British Columbians rely on every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

Striking B.C. public service workers to enter non-binding mediation with province<\/a><\/p>\n

The union\u2019s 34,000 members will now have to review and vote on the deal. No date has been set for the vote. <\/p>\n

Members of the Professional Employees Association, which represents licensed professionals such as engineers and foresters in the public sector, remain on strike. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe length of this job action illustrates the seriousness of the issues that PEA and BCGEU workers face,\u201d the union\u2019s executive director, Melissa Moroz, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

In a statement, B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said she was \u201cpleased\u201d by the development. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur government respects the ratification process and the rights of union members to vote on their agreements, so I\u2019ll leave any further comment until that process is complete,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The BCGEU had said it was asking for a for a 4-per-cent wage increase in each year of a two-year deal, with the government offering 2 per cent a year for two years.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, B.C. Premier David Eby had said the government made a \u201cgood faith\u201d offer of a 5-per-cent wage increase over two years, with \u201cspecial consideration\u201d for those in lower-paid roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fiscally constrained right now. The global economy is slowing. There\u2019s huge cost inflation pressuring not just our government but governments around the world and across the country,\u201d the Premier said.<\/p>\n

Fiscal headwinds facing the B.C. government were a backdrop. <\/p>\n

The province has posted back-to-back record deficits, while the total provincial debt is growing quickly. <\/p>\n

In September, the first-quarter fiscal update showed that this year\u2019s deficit is heading even higher than planned, to $11.6-billion.<\/p>\n

With reports from Justine Hunter and The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: BC General Employees’ Union members picket outside of a B.C. provincial liquor store…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-335258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}