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

By Canadian Press on September 29, 2025.

VICTORIA — The head 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.

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

He said the union 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,'” he told the crowd.

“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.”

He 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.

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.

“Our members are facing a real affordability crisis, and the government’s response continues to fall far short. Until the government is prepared to engage in real negotiations, job action will escalate,” the union said in a statement.

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.

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

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press