Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberal government has been told its $1 billion bonus fund for early settlements with unionized government employees won’t make up for further contracting out of provincial civil service jobs.

The 25,000-member B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union has responded to the government’s new bargaining structure in a traditional way, announcing a strike vote that is to be held over the next three weeks.

BCGEU president George Heyman said while he is encouraged by the government’s offer of signing bonuses and an end to the two-year wage freeze, a plan to privatize 700 more union positions is not acceptable.

At issue are jobs at four provincial agencies: the Oil and Gas Commission; Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.; the B.C. Pension Corporation; and the B.C. Film Classification Branch.

Heyman said the union has been in bargaining for four weeks with limited progress, only to be informed those agencies would be removed from the bargaining unit by cabinet order.

“This government has still not learned to negotiate instead of legislate,” Heyman told a news conference Friday.

Government officials have had little to say about the BCGEU announcement or negotiations in general with 300,000 public servants.

Heyman also said he does not want to negotiate in the media. But five years of B.C. Liberal policies, including the loss of 1,900 positions in the Ministry of Environment, a $170 million cut to the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the privatization of Medical Services Plan services has left B.C. with the smallest per- capita civil service of any province, he added.

“This government has exceeded every other government in Canada, whether it’s Mike Harris or Ralph Klein, in decimating public services for British Columbians.”

The Medical Services Plan contractor, Maximus B.C., has recently been held up as a success story by Health Minister George Abbott.

Maximus took over the existing BCGEU staff last April. After struggling to implement new systems to process phone inquiries, applications and mail, and paying monthly penalties for slow service, it started meeting service targets by the end of 2005. Maximus also added staff.

“Poor service in these areas has been a historic problem and the public is now getting the outstanding service they deserve,” Abbott said.

Heyman said the BCGEU has made no proposals to reverse privatization, but he wants a mandate from the membership to send a message to the government about job security.

Copyright 2006 Maple Ridge News