The province is broke, Americans have started a trade war, and now B.C.’s public sector unions are hinting at a whole lot of labour strife on the horizon.
Nobody said running a provincial government was easy.
That must be the thought going through the minds of some New Democrats, as they wrestle not only with the unpredictable day-to-day global turmoil sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump, but the comments of the new BC General Employees’ Union president Paul Finch, who kicked off public sector bargaining this week with ominous warnings that there’s “a high probability of a dispute this round of bargaining.”
BCGEU members are still reeling from cost-of-living increases caused by inflation, he said, opening talks with provincial negotiators in Victoria by reading them a Reddit post by a union member who’d lost hope because of how hard it was to make a decent living.
“I talk to members every week that are absolutely struggling to get by, that are working second jobs … especially those in the lower-paid classifications across the civil service,” said Finch.
“It’s not a secret there’s an affordability crisis in British Columbia. It impacts the younger generations more acutely for a variety of reasons, and our members are struggling to get by. They are not having the same quality of life.”
The 182 contracts representing more than 400,000 public sector workers in B.C. expire this year, including those for teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, seniors care providers, sheriffs, post-secondary instructors and direct government civil servants.
Because the contracts contain me-too clauses, bargaining usually comes down to one or two of the largest unions squaring off against provincial negotiators to hammer out a framework that is then applied with minor changes to the rest of the players.
In past years, it has been outspoken unions like the BC Teachers’ Federation or the BC Nurses’ Union taking the frontline negotiating position. But this year, the BCGEU is the one out early and strong.
It has yet to table exact wage demands, but Finch said the union will also be seeking the abolition of the antiquated employee classification system, an overhaul of the government’s grievance system and a reduction in contracting out of services.
On top of wages, nurses have said they are concerned about strengthening the nurse-to-patient ratio, while teachers are usually focused on class size and composition concerns.
Every one per cent increase in public sector wages costs the provincial treasury $400 million, meaning a simple three-year contract with annual two per cent pay hikes would approach $5 billion in cumulative costs.
That’s a lot of money for a B.C. government sitting in a record $9.5-billion deficit, with the threat of another $2.5 billion in lost revenue if Trump follows through with tariffs on Canadian goods.
“It’s a challenging time financially,” Finance Minister Brenda Bailey told me. “I think folks know that we’ve been under a lot of pressure financially, around the globe frankly, and then in addition to that the Trump tariffs. So we’re doing some careful budgeting.
“At the same time, it’s really important that we are able to hire good people, and we’ve got good folks that we really value tremendously working for us in the public service.”
New Democrats are somewhat less sympathetic to the cost-of-living plight of the public sector, after giving them a generous contract in 2022 that amounted to an average 14 per cent wage increase over three years.
This time, Premier David Eby will be aiming for a far lesser amount. His cabinet has not yet finalized the government bargaining mandate, and Bailey said she’s still carving out figures for her March provincial budget.
The government will also take a tougher line in bargaining after the premier admitted to the business community that the public sector has grown too quickly compared with private job growth. He’s ordered both a hiring freeze and an internal review of spending to try and address administrative waste and inefficiency.
Finch rejected that characterization, saying the public service per capita in B.C. is in line with the national average, and that much of that growth has been amongst the managerial ranks.
“If you dig deeper, almost one out of every four direct civil servants is an excluded manager,” he said. “That’s an incredible ratio.”
Still, the BCGEU is cognizant it may be bargaining amidst a global trade war, a potential recession and economic fallout of the actions of a volatile American president. That could make contract talks volatile, too.
Just another major challenge on the horizon for the BC NDP government, on top of everything else.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
