BCGEU strike notice to raise stakes for other union negotiations: expert

The BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), representing around 34,000 public sector workers, voted to approve strike action on Friday, and one labour expert says the timing of this vote could heavily influence other negotiations going on across the province.

Fiona McQuarrie, professor emeritus at the University of the Fraser Valley, says the overwhelming support for the strike action — 86 per cent of all members voted, with 93 per cent of those voting in favour — carries a lot of weight.

“I would say that gives the strike vote and the strike mandate an even stronger indication of support from the union if that many members felt this was important enough to turn out,” the expert said.

“I think that shows that the union and its members are pretty committed to this course of action.”

This means other unions are likely to take note, she says.

“Anything that involves a government relationship with an employer, they would certainly be watching what others are doing,” she said.

“The BCGEU is one of the largest unions in B.C., so I think that other B.C. unions would be looking at what happens here.”

McQuarrie says having the provincial government as your employer is a unique situation.

“They don’t usually have the option, like private sector employers do, to raise prices or cut services as a way of funding wage increases,” she said.

“Their source of revenue is taxes. And as you can imagine, governments are usually fairly wary of of raising taxes, so their options in terms of of their ability to pay a wage are are somewhat limited.”

She says we will have to wait and see what will come of the negotiations between the union and the province, and it is still possible there will be a settlement before job action begins.