Talks off before they began, BCGEU leader says of negotiations with B.C. government

For weeks, striking B.C. General Employees Union workers have been picketing at locations around the province.

The head of the union representing British Columbia’s 34,000 public sector workers says a government request to get back to the bargaining table appears to have been a “cheap stunt” as it offered little change to end weeks of strike action.

Paul Finch, president of the BC General Employees’ Union, said negotiators for the employer were three hours late and hardly increased their offer.

“We’re here to announce today that talks broke off today, but they didn’t really start,” Finch told workers outside a government office in Victoria on Monday.

Finch, who is also the chair of the public service bargaining committee, said the union will escalate sharply its job action after the “disrespect” shown by the government.

When asked about Finch’s account about government showing up late, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said she was briefed that there wasn’t a set time for the two sides to meet.

“(The) person leading our table called early in the morning to say that we’d be ready at noon,” she said. “So that certainly isn’t my understanding of what happened.”

Bailey said government is looking for a deal that is fair to both workers and the public purse.

The two sides were not even in the same ballpark, Finch said.

The union is in its fifth week of job action in what Finch said is believed to be the longest civil service strike in B.C. history.

The BCGEU had been asking for wage increases totalling 8.25 per cent over two years, but said in a statement Monday that it countered the government’s offer with a wage increase of four per cent in each year of a two-year agreement.

Finch said the government had been offering them four per cent over two years, but presented them with a five-per-cent increase over two years in talks on Monday.

He said the union had told negotiators to go back to the government to ask for changes, but they returned without a real offer.

“So, our first impulse was, we came back to them and said, ‘Maybe there’s been a mistake, you’ve clearly called us back to the table,’” Finch told the crowd in Victoria.

“I’d say we are incredibly disappointed. I think this was, in my view, a cheap stunt. There’s no point in calling us back to the table if you are not going to present something materially different.”

Bailey disagreed with Finch’s claim that the government wasn’t offering anything new.

“Four-and-a-half per cent to five per cent is different, and it’s not a time where you are going to see large swings,” she said, adding that B.C. is facing “a very constrained fiscal environment.”

“There’s quite a gap between where the two sides are right now, and it’s unfortunate, because the union just doesn’t seem willing to make progress towards a reasonable agreement at this time.”

Pickets remain up, including at about one-third of provincial liquor stores, at liquor and cannabis distribution warehouses and at government offices around B.C.

The union said about 15,000 of its 34,000 members involved in the contract were conducting some form of job action, from an overtime ban to picketing.

Finch said the public should expect larger demonstrations, including a show of solidarity from other unions in the coming days.

There is a possibility of a rally outside the B.C. legislature when lawmakers return Oct. 6, Finch said.

Both Bailey and Finch offered no clues to when negotiations might resume.

“Talks are off until government comes back with a real offer, full stop,” Finch said, drawing loud cheers from the union members gathering outside the government office where he spoke.

Bailey said government wants to reach an agreement.

“What I will say is that we were willing to be at the table. We want to work toward an agreement that is fair for this group of very important government workers, many of whom are our friends, but we are not willing to do that at any cost,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2025.

By Wolfgang Depner