The deal B.C. government workers earned after a tense eight-week strike is having a ripple effect across public sector bargaining tables.
In October, the BC General Employees’ Union and the B.C. government agreed to a wage increase of three per cent each year over four years.
David Hannah, a business professor at Simon Fraser University, said the union’s win has changed the mandate for public sector employers.
“The financial side is now set,” Hannah said. “Everyone knows what their financial envelope is going to be, and it’s going to be based on what the BCGEU got for their deal.”
Approximately 452,000 public sector workers are heading into negotiation this year, including nurses, health-care workers and teachers.
Since the deal, public sector employers have extended the same wage offer to some of the other unions, including some hospital staff, engineers and lawyers.
.png)
Still, unions and employers are expecting tough talks over issues like benefits, nurse-to-patient ratios and other non-monetary workplace issues.
BCGEU president Paul Finch said that in hindsight, holding the line in a tense eight-month strike paid off for members.
“Our strategy worked very well.” Finch said. “Our goal was to get a fair agreement that addressed the affordability concerns of our membership, and obviously, we did that.”
The provincial government agreed to raise its wage offer from a total 3.5 per cent increase over two years to a 12.6 per cent increase over four years.
Since then, public sector employers have extended the same offer to workers represented by public sector unions, including the Professional Employees Association and the Facilities Bargaining Association — which represents 67,500 health employees mostly with the Hospital Employees’ Union.
The negotiations come as B.C. faces a nearly $12-billion deficit.
The Ministry of Finance estimates that an increase of one per cent in total compensation for all B.C. public sector employees will cost $532 million per year.
That means if the province continues to extend the BCGEU’s wage offer to all B.C. public sector workers, the new deals will cost a total additional $2.1 billion over the next two years.
Finch said the BCGEU’s success helped move the needle for health-care workers.
“What we achieved has already directly increased what the Facilities Bargaining Association will receive,” Finch said. “We believe it has fundamentally changed the mandate across the province.”
On Nov. 17, the Facilities Bargaining Association announced it had reached a tentative agreement that also included a general wage increase of three per cent per year over four years, the same offer extended to the BCGEU.
That’s not set in stone — members will vote on that deal later this month.
Still, Lynn Bueckert, the Hospital Employees’ Union secretary-business manager, said in an email the tentative deal “significantly advanced efforts to restore wages.”
“This tentative agreement secures wage improvements to better attract, retain and support frontline health-care workers who deliver the care British Columbians want and need,” she said.
BC Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear said the BCGEU’s strike raised the bar for members of her union.
“There’s just a lot of gratitude for the BCGEU in terms of taking the stand that they did,” Gear said. “The general wage increase that the BCGEU was able to secure after their valiant job action benefits everybody.”
She said the nurses’ union has not yet received a wage offer. Instead, she said, bargaining was in the very early stages, adding her union had met with the health employers to discuss “non-crunchy” proposals.
She expects nurse-to-patient ratios to be a sticking point.
Last year, the B.C. government introduced mandatory minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals to improve working conditions for nurses and the quality of care for patients.
But, according to Gear, those ratios still haven’t been achieved across the board.
“The challenge is we need to recruit many, many more nurses to fill the lines,” Gear said.
Since the last round of bargaining, Gear said, there have been improvements. She said nurse turnover has gone down, and she’s hearing from members that they’re happier at work. Now, she plans to bring the issue up in bargaining.
“It just feels like things are slowing down, and so we need to really keep the government and health employers focused on this commitment,” Gear said.
She expects bargaining to ramp up as both sides head back to the table through December.
SFU’s Hannah, who researches negotiations, said the improved wage offer sets a clear limit on how much employers are willing to spend on this round of bargaining.
“There may be a little bit of wiggle room from table to table, depending on the circumstances, but for the most part, the financial side is now set,” Hannah said.
He said that means unions might not be able to ask for costly measures on top of a wage increase, like increased benefits or pension spending.
“That would mean they’re exceeding the financial envelope that’s allotted to them,” Hannah said. “It’s not just a wage increase; it’s like a budget.”
The BCGEU’s largest bargaining unit, representing 34,000 workers, is the group of workers who went on strike and secured the improved wage offer from the provincial government.
But more BCGEU bargaining units are now in negotiations, with some hitting friction.
On Nov. 27, the Community Bargaining Association — a bargaining unit of more than 26,000 community health workers represented by the BCGEU — voted 92.3 per cent in favour of a strike.
The association includes workers in shelters and supportive housing and detox programs, and health workers helping seniors age in place. They have not yet walked off the job.
BCGEU vice-president Scott De Long said in a press release that members are seeking the same benefits funding, overtime rules, scheduling protections and wages as other B.C. health-care workers.
“We’re calling on government and [health employers] to return to the table with a mandate to fix these long-standing inequities and deliver real improvements to our day-to-day working conditions,” De Long said.
B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said in an email that the provincial government has shown willingness to get a good agreement for everyone.
“Right now, bargaining is underway across the B.C. public sector, and we want to give those tables the space they need to have those important discussions.”
