Opinion: NDP government seems highly unlikely to enrich its latest offer much
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VICTORY — NDP leadership challenger Anjali Appadurai sides with striking BC government employees in their pay dispute with the NDP government.
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The BC Employees General Union, or BCGEU, which represents 33,000 government workers, issued a 72-hour notice Friday, setting the stage for the strike that began Monday afternoon.
“My solidarity is with the public service workers of BC,” Appadurai declared in a post on his Twitter account shortly after the strike notice was issued.
“I’ll see you on the picket line,” the 32-year-old climate activist and former federal NDP candidate continued.
“Our province benefits from a strong public sector that provides workers with safe workplaces, secure jobs and good wages to help make ends meet.”
The BCGEU issued a strike notice after rejecting the government’s latest offer, the third in the current round of negotiations.
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All three offers were approved by the NDP cabinet while David Eby was still a member.
Eby has since resigned as attorney general and housing minister to seek leadership.
While he is the overwhelming choice of the current NDP caucus and cabinet, Appadurai stands as a challenger to the status quo.
“Anjali Appadurai’s views and positions do not necessarily represent those of the BC NDP, the BC NDP Caucus or the BC NDP government,” a statement on her campaign website reads. “Anjali Appadurai does not speak on behalf of the BC NDP and her statements, opinions and positions are her own.”
The candidate says that the government’s priorities are “completely upside down.”
She dismisses Eby as a former activist turned establishment member.
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Although clearly a long shot, he appears to be off to a good start.
His leadership campaign raised the NDP’s hefty $40,000 registration fee “in a matter of minutes,” Appadurai told Al Ferraby on CFAX radio in Victoria on Friday.
She is making a direct pitch to disgruntled New Democrats who have allowed memberships to lapse in recent years.
“Let’s take back the 9,000 members who left behind terrible policies that betrayed our core values,” reads a Twitter post by New Democrat Ashley Zarbatany, an Appadurai supporter. “Nurses, teachers, public sector workers and, yes, those who want a habitable planet. Come get your party back.
Appadurai’s declaration of solidarity with the strikers amounts to an unspoken pitch for them to join the NDP before the September 4 signature cut.
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Raises for BCGEU members should be “top priority” for the NDP government, Appadurai told The Vancouver Sun’s Katie DeRosa on Monday.
“Public sector workers deserve adequate compensation for what they do. … The demands of the strike are not even an increase. They are simply a cost of living adjustment. And MLA understands that. And the public sector absolutely deserves it.”
The BCGEU is seeking a two-year deal with cost-of-living protection that allows members to keep up with inflation, which is 5 percent.
The NDP government’s latest offer amounted to around 10 percent for three years, plus a $2,500 signing bonus.
There is also the possibility of an additional one percent increase in the third year if the rate of inflation exceeds a defined threshold.
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The government says the offer is the upper limit of affordability because similar conditions would have to be provided to all of the nearly 400,000 public sector workers whose contracts expired this year.
In the meantime, it would appear that the BCGEU’s action temporarily halted the progress of negotiations in the health sector.
The Facilities Bargaining Association, which represents more than 60,000 workers in a wide range of health care facilities, halted its negotiations this week in a show of support for striking BCGEU members.
But the tone of disappointment in the announcement from the association’s negotiating committee was not lost on.
He referred to the fact that there was a “strong negotiation momentum at the negotiating table.”
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The bargaining committee has secured agreements with the employer in areas including employee-initiated turnover and schedule changes, work-from-home arrangements, a more comprehensive complaint investigation process, and improvements to maternity and paternity leave. , continued the statement.
The bargaining association is the umbrella organization for nine unions, including the BCGEU.
However, more than 90 percent of workers in health facilities belong to the Hospital Employees Union.
“Our committee is also engaged in active and productive discussions with the employer about salary increases to combat inflation, improvements to various premiums and allowances, and how to address the impact of historic pay cuts on healthcare workers,” said the secretary and commercial manager of the health union. Meena Brisard.
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“We’re also training members with new language to address harassment and new tools to reduce six-day rotations and make other scheduling changes that improve work-life balance and reduce burnout.”
Which didn’t make it seem like health care workers were preparing to follow the BCGEU to the picket lines.
Still, the BCGEU believes it can extract a more generous financial offer from the government.
“This is just the beginning,” BCGEU Treasurer Paul Finch declared on his social media account as the selective strike began at liquor distribution warehouses on Monday.
“We are fighting for all workers in this province in the midst of the affordability crisis. We will win.”
At this point, it is not clear how.
The mandate approved by the cabinet probably allows some adjustments in the final offer to reach an agreement.
But barring a stunning upset in the leadership race, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the cabinet would come back to the table with a very rich fourth offer.
