All professionals working in the B.C. public service — people doing jobs such as transportation engineers, mine inspectors, or foresters — are now on strike.<\/p>\n
The Professional Employees' Association (PEA) announced the latest escalation at a rally near the B.C. legislature in Victoria on Thursday, Oct. 16. The union now has all 1,600 public service members on strike.<\/p>\n
"These are the professionals we put our trust in to keep us safe," said Melissa Moroz, PEA's executive director. "They are the engineers who make sure highways and bridges are safe. They are the psychologists who support our most vulnerable children and their families."<\/p>\n
Moroz said this will likely stall projects and permitting in the province. This includes major infrastructure work such as the Pattullo Bridge replacement project.<\/p>\n
"You hear [Prime Minister] Mark Carney and [Premier] David Eby talking about projects of national interest and investment in green energy," she said. "We have all the mining inspectors, the safety inspectors, the permitting officers, the geoscientists, and the hydrologists to oversee all of it."<\/p>\n
Members of public service bargaining units in the PEA and the B.C. General Employees' Union (BCGEU) are in the eighth week of escalating job action as they seek an eight per cent wage increase over two years from the B.C. government. <\/p>\n
The government has offered the BCGEU four per cent over two years, with an additional one per cent for some workers. This is 0.5 per cent higher than the government's initial offer. Moroz says the PEA was only offered 3.5 per cent, with the government sticking to its initial offer and refusing to come to the table with a new one.<\/p>\n
The PEA has historically had a "me too" clause in its agreement stipulating that if the BCGEU secures a better deal, the PEA gets that deal as well<\/p>\n
Because it is already difficult to hire professionals to work in the public service, Moroz warns that workers might begin polishing off their resumes.<\/p>\n
"I think that is a big concern for the province — that people are going to leave and potentially go find jobs elsewhere," she said.<\/p>\n
Moroz said the strike mandate for her union does not expire, and that members have "resolve." Striking PEA workers initially received full pay while on strike, but after four or five weeks, the union reduced it to $175 per day. To receive strike pay, members must picket for four hours per day.<\/p>\n
BCGEU President Paul Finch put it on the government to return to the negotiation table with a revised offer.<\/p>\n
"We have a finance minister and a government that are absent, that are refusing to negotiate, refusing to come to the table, and refusing to settle this strike," he said.<\/p>\n
The BCGEU now has 25,000 workers taking job action out of roughly 34,000 total members in the public service bargaining unit. About 5,000 of the union's workers in the bargaining unit are deemed essential and cannot strike. This includes people working in jobs such as correctional officers. BCGEU members get $130 per day for picketing, with the same stipulation that they picket four hours per day.<\/p>\n
Black Press Media has reached out to the B.C. government for comment, but a spokesperson did not provide a reply by publication deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Professional Employees’ Association announced Thursday, Oct. 16 that all remaining members are now on strike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":158397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-regional-news","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n