BCGEU strike reaches Fort St. John’s only BC Liquor store

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Cannabis, liquor stores, as well as licence and health card renewals have all been affected by the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) Strike, starting this week in Fort St. John.

Having initially only involved civil service workers, the strike is now affecting the consumers around the province.

The liquor and cannabis storefront situated in Fort St. John’s downtown core at 10211 100th Street was shuttered, with employees having strung rope and wearing signs.

The store, along with the location in Tumbler Ridge, joined the list of Cannabis and Liquor store locations across the province on the picket lines on Tuesday, October 7th. 

Escalating labour action has now included ServiceBC and FrontCounterBC, including Fort St. John at 10600 – 100th Street and 100 – 10003 110 Avenue respectively.

Fort St. John resident Lance Davis told Energeticcity.ca the labour action “is what it is,” but it will have an impact on regular customers.

“[It won’t just] affect the customers, but also the workers,” said Davis. “[It will] affect their income because they have to work, but they are on strike.”

Signs outside the liquor store called for a fair and just contract, while signs declared the location ‘temporarily closed.’

While members of the negotiation team and the provincial government met last week, talks broke down quickly, according to Judy Fox-McGuire.

Fox-McGuire is the component six vice-president and a member of the public service bargaining committee, and claims the government “shuffled the deck a bit,” giving the same offer members previously rejected.

“They called us back to the bargaining table. We were really excited,” said Fox-McGuire. “They didn’t give us an offer. They gave us the same thing.”

“We are bargaining on behalf of 40,000 BCGEU members. They are the ones that are going to have the ultimate decision about whether they’ll take this deal.”

Negotiations centre around affordability, according to the union. The BCGEU is looking for an 8.25 per cent increase to offset inflation increases over two years, while the government has only offered a 4.4 per cent increase over the same timeline.

A Leger poll released in September by BCGEU said an overwhelming majority – 81 per cent  – of respondents think wages should either equal or exceed the rate of inflation for public service employees, with opinions at 42 saying it should equal and 39 per cent saying it should exceed.

An additional 28 per cent said it should be slightly above, while just nine per cent the wage increase should be below the inflation rate.

Currently, there are no scheduled talks between the two sides. With the battle lines now affecting consumers, Fox-McGuire told Energeticcity.ca for people throughout the province to reach out to their MLA.

“People need to call their MLA and put some pressure on them and tell the government to come back to the bargaining table,” said Fox-McGuire. “Let’s get a deal done.”

Energeticcity.ca has reached out to the provincial government for further comment, and will update this story if more information becomes available.