Lək̓ʷəŋən [LEKWUNGEN] TERRITORY / VICTORIA B.C. – Today, the Professional Employees Association (PEA) announced that all 1,800 of its members are now on full strike after the provincial government refused to increase their wages in line with inflation by offering only 3.5 percent over two years. Nearly 25,000 BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) members remain on picket lines province-wide.
The BC Greens stand in full solidarity with PEA and BCGEU members as they escalate job action across the province.
“These are the people who ensure our bridges are safe, our forests are sustainably managed, and our communities and infrastructure are protected from floods and landslides,” said BC Green Leader Emily Lowan. “They’re not asking for special treatment. They’re asking for fair wages that keep up with inflation and reflect the value of their expertise.”
“The BC NDP is abandoning the workers who keep this province running,” said Lowan. “By refusing to keep wages in line with the rising cost of living, this government is effectively cutting workers’ pay in real terms. The NDP loves to call itself the party of workers — until those workers ask for a raise. You can’t build a resilient public service by undermining the people who make it work”.
Both unions have warned that the failure to recruit and retain public professionals is forcing the government to rely on private contractors, who charge significantly more. “This is the vicious cycle of austerity,” said Lowan. “Underpaying public workers drives them out of government, and taxpayers end up footing higher bills for external contracts. It’s bad policy and worse economics.”
Lowan added that B.C.’s fiscal challenges stem not from overspending but from decades of eroded revenue. “As economist Iglika Ivanova pointed out, B.C.’s own-source revenues have fallen by nearly four percentage points of GDP in 25 years, about $16.8 billion a year in lost public capacity,” she said. “B.C. doesn’t have a spending problem. It has a revenue problem. We must tax BC’s 1% and richest corporations to make BC a liveable province for workers.”
“The NDP’s big idea to raise public revenue is to double down on raw resource exports – especially fossil fuels. No manufacturing. No innovation. And no vision for the future beyond more foreign billionaires ripping and shipping our resources while families in B.C. wait for the wealth to trickle down. It never will. And while workers wait for fair wages and homes we can afford, the BC NDP doubles down on MAGA-backed fossil fuel projects and ignores the need to obtain consent from Indigenous peoples. That is unacceptable.”
“When government chooses to underfund public services, everyone loses,” said Lowan. “We can afford to do better. The question is whether we have the political will to do it.”
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