Round 20, Bargaining Dispatch IX: Public-Sector Update
September 4, 2025
On Tuesday, September 2, 2025, members of the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) and Professional Employees Union (PEA) launched joint job action, establishing picket lines at worksites in Prince George, Surrey, and Victoria. Both unions have highlighted unresolved wage issues at the bargaining table, with the province refusing to offer fair increases to compensation.
Job action by the PEA and BCGEU comes just days after the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) and provincial government reached a framework agreement on monetary gains. The agreement appears to address long-standing inequities specific to HEU members, in exchange for wages below the demands of BCGEU and PEA members. BCGEU President Paul Finch cautioned that the provisional settlement “is below inflation and undermines the very fight that public service workers across B.C. are taking on together for fair wages and respect at the bargaining table.”
FSA members have a direct and immediate stake in the outcome of the first public-sector negotiations of a bargaining round. The first major union to ratify an agreement with the province typically establishes a pattern that will influence all subsequent agreements across the public sector. In 2025, more than 450,000 public-sector workers—including FSA members—are engaged in collective bargaining with the provincial government.
Unlike many other jurisdictions in Canada, British Columbia does not permit free and fair public-sector bargaining. Instead, negotiations are tightly controlled by provincial bodies such as the Public Sector Employers’ Council (PSEC) and, in the post-secondary sector, the Post-Secondary Employers’ Association (PSEA). These agencies set the parameters that unions and employers must operate within, leaving little room for genuine, independent negotiation.