Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Things are getting messy in the current round of contract negotiations for about 452,000 workers in BC’s public sector. The BC General Employees’ Union, representing about 34,000 direct government employees, launched an offensive against the government Friday. Not only did the union announce that 93 per cent of members had voted yes to a strike, but it issued 72-hour strike notice. Meaning job action could start as early as today. But the BCGEU’s threat was muted by the Hospital Employees’ Union, which on Thursday announced it had reached an agreement with the government on the key elements of a deal. The HEU, with twice as many members, appears to have accepted the basic contract framework the BCGEU is fighting ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Unions for BC public sector workers are expecting challenging negotiations as the province struggles with economic uncertainty and big budget deficits. And one major union is already warning that the province’s wage offers don’t “come close” to meeting members’ needs. Unions for about 452,000 BC public sector workers, including the Hospital Employees’ Union, BC Teachers’ Federation and BC Nurses’ Union, are at the table this year as their contracts expire. The BC General Employees' Union , or BCGEU, representing about 34,000 provincial workers, has been in talks for more than six months ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The BC Conservative Party is criticizing the province’s campaign finance laws after learning a union supporting the BC NDP spent nearly half a million dollars on advertisements in the lead-up to the last provincial election. Disclosures published by Elections BC on Tuesday reveal the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) spent more than $470,000 in the three months before the election on TV, radio and social media advertisements, many of them sharply critical of the BC Conservatives and their leader John Rustad. That spending — a record for third-party advertisers in recent elections — is legal ... CLICK HERE for the full story

... In the last round of bargaining, which straddled the pandemic and a surge in the rate of inflation, the New Democrats granted increases of about 14 per cent over three years. (One per cent costs about $400 million a year.). This time inflation has cooled, the budget is deeply in the red, the private sector is faltering, and the premier barely escaped the election with his majority intact. On that basis, the New Democrats are hoping the unions will curb their expectations in the coming bargaining round. The unions may have other ideas, judging from this week’s BCGEU bargaining bulletin ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The taxpayers of British Columbia (you and I) are ultimately accountable for the costs of bargaining contracts with unions representing employees of the government. There are currently over 430,000 * British Columbian’s, or just under 11% of the province’s adult population, working in the core public service, at Crown corporations and agencies, in health and community social services, K-12 public education, post-secondary, and research universities.   Of those people, more than 330,000 are unionized employees – they receive approximately $30.4 billion in compensation -- more than half the provincial budget.   It should be noted that a 2% wage increase per year -- for all employees including unionized, non-union, and management employees -- costs taxpayers just under two thirds of a billion dollars (approximately $608 million) Since February three year agreements, based on two percent increases each year, have been negotiated with: The ...