BC Government Employment Union employees voted against accepting the Cariboo Regional District’s last contract offer.
“It really came down to a wage matter,” CRD Chief Administrative Officer Murray Daly said, “we think we’ve negotiated through all the other standards for the bargaining issues and it really just came down to wages. We offered them (BCGEU) 5 percent in the first year retroactive to the end of the last contract which was in November, and then 3 percent for each of the following two years.”
The Cariboo Regional District said changes to other provisions of the collective agreement which had already been agreed upon at the bargaining table were also included as part of the last offer vote.
Daly said the CRD is disappointed with the result of the vote.
“We want a fair deal for our employees but we also have to balance with the fact that we are negotiating with tax payers dollars so when we come to the table and make an offer, we have to be able to reconcile that with what our tax base can manage.” Daly said, “We’re trying to bring a good balance to that, we want to be fair to our employees, we value our employees, they’re all really good staff members. They are dedicated, hard working folks that want the best for the regional district and we do too.”
Daly noted the CRD is more than willing to come back to the negotiation table whenever the Union is prepared to come back and negotiate a fair deal.
The BC General Employees Union said local employees blocked the CRD’s attempts to ram through a deal that would have threatened the worker’s financial security and risked exacerbating recruitment and retention issues.
The Union said in bargaining the CRD workers have been fighting for critical language that would help offset financial pressures if the Region’s cost of living skyrockets again, reducing the risk of high staff turn over.
Yesterday (May 9) workers started limited job actions with an overtime ban as a first step in actioning their strike vote.
The Union said despite employees showing up to work, the Regional District forced staff to close libraries to the public.
The CRD Unionized employees provide services to Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and other surrounding communities.
BCGEU members will continue to try and bargain again with the CRD but if the CRD is unwilling to offer a fair deal, the Union said members may choose to advance their strike action with picketing in the future.
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