Pickets come down at ICBC office, but BCGEU vows to ratchet up strike
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Driver licensing services are set to resume at ICBC’s Guildford location in Surrey on Saturday, after multiple days of disruption due to the B.C. General Employees Union (BCGEU) strike.
ICBC workers are not members of the BCGEU, but the location was behind one of the striking union’s picket lines.
The public insurer said Friday it had applied for a “common site order” through the Labour Relations Board, a measure that bars striking workers from picketing unrelated third-party businesses.
“This outcome ensures our employees can continue serving customers at this location despite ongoing picketing by the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) and the Professional Employees’ Association (PEA),” ICBC said.
With the exception of the Guildford location, the public impacts of the BCGEU strike, now in its fourth day, have been relatively muted.
The union has targeted government buildings in Victoria, Surrey and Prince George, along with the Royal BC Museum.
“It’s predominantly government operations that have been impacted by this strike,” BCGEU president Paul Finch told Global News.
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“If government doesn’t come to the table, that will change.”
The union is asking for a raise of 8.25 per cent over two years, while the province is offering 3.5 per cent over two years, and says so far the government hasn’t returned with an improved wage offer.
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University, said the road could get rougher in the days ahead if the two sides remain far apart.
The union, which has some 34,000 members in the bargaining unit, has deliberately held off on wider work stoppages for strategic reasons, he said.
“Where do you go from there, right? You’ve basically exerted your maximum pressure all at once. And sometimes that can help if you really need a sort of shock and awe approach or something … but if it doesn’t work, then you’re stranded,” he said.
“So I think what the union was thinking was they wanted to have a measured approach and ratchet up the pressure progressively depending on how the employer responded at the bargaining table.”
Legally, picket lines can stay up indefinitely, with the Labour Relations Board rarely getting involved.
The province does have the power to intervene, but it comes with the risk of public backlash.
That’s a strategy the federal government recently employed in a bid to end Air Canada flight attendants’ strike — only to see workers defy the order, and ultimately force a deal with the airline.
“If you’re thinking about legislating workers back to work, the end of a strike, that’s a really extreme outcome,” said Roper Greyell LLP labour lawyer Danny Bernstein.
“It’s highly unlikely, certainly early in the strike.”
The union is keeping its cards close to the vest in terms of future actions, but the memory is still fresh of the BCGEU’s 2022 strike which saw workers picket Liquor and Cannabis Distribution Branch warehouses, an action that did lead to significant public disruption.
The province, meanwhile, is locked in bargaining with numerous large public sector unions, including teachers and nurses, and is seeking to keep labour costs down as it grapples with a $7.3-billion deficit and the ongoing fallout of the trade war with the U.S.
“Government employees did very well in the last round of negotiations, keeping up with and exceeding inflation,” B.C. Premier David Eby said on Friday.
“We’re just not able to do that this time around; we’re facing big fiscal headwinds.”
It’s an answer that’s unlikely to satisfy the BCGEU, which appears to be settling in for the long haul.
If that’s the case, Eidlin said the public should be ready for increasing disruption.
“The purpose of a strike is to be disruptive. If you’re not disrupting the rhythms of everyday life, you’re not waging an effective strike,” he said.
“The fact is that a lot of the work that these provincial workers do is fundamental to the day-to-day functioning of British Columbians’ lives.”
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