Contract bargaining begins for B.C. public sector unions [Video]

Contract talks between the British Columbia government’s unionized public sector workers started Wednesday with a union leader forecasting a difficult round of bargaining.

B.C. General Employees’ Union President Paul Finch says the contract for 34,000 provincial government workers expires March 31, but talks are starting earlier.

Finch says the union is cognizant of the financial and economic challenges facing the province, but its members have been facing an affordability crisis and a rising cost of living.

He says it’s too early to discuss the union’s wage demands, but suggests there is a “high probability of a dispute this round of bargaining.”

He says contracts for up to 400,000 unionized workers in the province, including nurses, hospital workers, post-secondary school instructors and support staff are also expiring in the …