Dawson Creek’s BC Liquor store workers join BCGEU strike action

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Dawson Creek liquor store workers are now joining the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) job action.

The strike, which began with civil service workers, has seen BCGEU escalate actions in the weeks following Labour Day.

The union represents 489 workers in northeast B.C., designated as ‘Area 10’ on the union’s map.

In an interview last week with Energeticcity.ca, BCGEU president Paul Finch pointed out that strike action across the union had been “escalating very progressively,” saying he expected it would not be long before the effects reached the region.

“As time rolls on and more and more civil servants join the picket lines, we get closer to the real full strike, where almost all of our members are on picket lines,” Finch said at the time.

Dawson Creek’s BC Liquor store, located at 1020 Alaska Highway, is now one of the province-wide liquor stores with employees walking off the job as of October 3rd.

BCGEU also lists the Service BC centre in Dawson Creek on 103rd Avenue as a “non-BC Liquor Store site” taking industrial action, but directs strikers to the liquor store picket line.

According to the BCGEU’s website, the union now has 14,000-plus members off the job, including in Fort St. John.

The union has sought an eight per cent wage increase over two years, with the provincial government offering just a 4.5 per cent increase.

After a stalemate lasting the entire month of September, sides met earlier this week before discussions broke down again.
Energeticcity.ca has reached out to both the BCGEU and the provincial government for further comment but did not immediately get a response.