Members of the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), who have been involved in strike action over the last two months, returned to work Monday morning after the union and the province reached a tentative deal over the weekend.
However, workers will still need to vote on that agreement for it to be approved.
BCGEU president Paul Finch said members will be given the week to get informed about the tentative deal and talk about it with coworkers to ensure it meets their needs.
He said voting will open next week.
The agreement is a four-year deal that includes a three per cent general wage increase per year over the next four years — half way between what the union was asking for and what the province was offering prior to mediation — as well as targeted pay hikes for the lowest-paid public servants, the union said.
LISTEN | Paul Finch explains tentative deal:
The Early Edition8:29BCGEU reaches tentative agreement
BCGEU president Paul Finch explains why they went for the deal.
The agreement also improves working arrangements for telework and remote workers, and includes a “rapid grievance tribunal.”
“We have a dispute resolution system that’s going to really … take a lot of the smaller disputes out of the hands of lawyers and labour relations professionals and put it back into the hands of people at the front line in the workplace,” Finch explained during an interview on CBC’s The Early Edition.
Finch said the collective bargaining committee is “pleased” with the agreement, and is recommending it to members.
“I think people realize we’ve reached a fair agreement here. We’ve kind of fulfilled the mandate we received,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to be happy that we didn’t achieve the four per cent general wage increase I think a lot of people were expecting or hoped for, but that’s how negotiations go.”
