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BCGEU Expands Pickets as Community Health Talks Collapse

Bargaining has stalled over wage protections despite weeks of escalating job action.

Overview

  • The union added roughly two dozen more sites to the strike this week, with more than 17,000 workers participating in job action across the province.
  • BCGEU reports over 14,000 workers on full or partial strike at 166 worksites with 79 picket lines, including five more provincial liquor stores.
  • Friday’s escalation brought about 900 additional workers from 22 locations, adding 20 liquor and cannabis stores and frontline staff from several ministries.
  • Talks between the Community Bargaining Association and the Health Employers Association of BC reached an impasse, and nearly 23,000 community healthcare workers could join pending strike steps, with a vote still to come.
  • The union rejected the province’s two‑year, five‑per‑cent pay package as not a general wage increase and says it will escalate until a “real offer,” while job action has already delayed a scheduled coroners’ inquest.