The British Columbia General Employees’ Union, which represents approximately 33,000 public-service workers across B.C., issued a strike notice last Friday.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The union that represents thousands of British Columbia public service workers says picket lines are going up in three cities today as industrial action begins across the province.
The BC General Employees’ Union says picket lines are being launched at multiple sites in Victoria, as well as at one location each in the Metro Vancouver municipality of Surrey and Prince George in the northern Interior.
Striking BCGEU members have already gathered at the Jack Davis Building, which houses provincial government offices in Victoria, waving union flags while the 1982 hit song “Eye of the Tiger” plays in the background.
Most of the picket sites are at provincial government offices as well as at the Royal BC Museum.
Union president Paul Finch had announced Friday that a 72-hour notice of a potential strike had been issued, and the deadline expired after midnight last night.
The BCGEU has about 34,000 members in fields including social services, health care, education, government liquor stores, prisons, courts and public administration.
However the government has said essential services will be unaffected.
The government has declined to say what was offered to the union.
But Finch said Friday that when negotiations broke off with the BC Public Service Agency in July, the union had been seeking a four per cent general wage increase in the first year and 4.25 per cent in the second year, as well as an unspecified cost-of-living adjustment.
The strike vote that closed Friday saw 92.7 per cent of members voting in support of job action if necessary.
Finch says in a statement that workers are “facing an affordability crisis,” adding that their job action is a declaration that the latest offer from the province is “unacceptable.”
“These same people who are struggling to make ends meet have voted overwhelmingly to strike,” Finch says, adding the members are “willing to fight for the deal that they need.”