BC Liquor Store workers are on the picket line Thursday as the B.C. General Employees' Union (BCGEU) job action continues to escalate.
The BCGEU strike has brought liquor and cannabis distribution workers into the fold this week. On Sept. 25, workers at an additional 37 BC Liquor Stores across the province walked off the job.
In the Okanagan, this includes the Vernon store at the Village Green Shopping Centre, the Summerland store on Main Street, the store in Penticton Plaza, and a Kelowna store on Lakeshore Road.
A total of 65 BC Liquor Stores are now engaged in the job action.
Thursday morning, about two dozen public service workers were striking in front of the closed Vernon BC Liquor Store, waving bright yellow BCGEU flags and carrying signs announcing the job action to mall patrons. Some of them were BC Liquor Store workers. Others were remotely working public service workers who have been waiting in the wings to see if a Vernon picket line would be established.
With Thursday's expansion covering more liquor stores in B.C., there are now close to 15,000 BCGEU members on strike. A total of 66 picket lines are in place across the province.
The strike began on Sept. 2 with about 2,000 inward-facing workers and those at the B.C. Royal Museum walking off the job. It has expanded several times since and is now beginning to include positions that disrupt services for the general public.
“From the beginning of this job action, public service workers have done everything possible to focus pressure on government without disrupting the public. But government’s refusal to return to the bargaining table with a fair wage mandate has left us no choice but to escalate,” said BCGEU President Paul Finch, who also serves as chair of the Public Service Bargaining Committee.
“By withholding labour at liquor and cannabis warehouses and stores, we are reminding government that it’s public service workers who generate the revenue that funds healthcare, education and other community programs. These impacts don’t have to drag on—workers want a fair deal, and the sooner government comes back to negotiate, the sooner these disruptions will end.”
