BC NDP’s Proposed $419M Wage Hike Faces Blowback

Last week, the BC provincial government offered a 3.5 percent wage increase to public sector unions, with the deal applying to 450,000 unionized public workers in the healthcare, education, and central government sectors. The offer is expected to take place over two years.

It is substantially less than the prior offer of 14 percent over three years during the last rounds of bargaining, which was rejected by the BC General Employees Union (BCGEU) and other unions as well. 

These figures are meant to embody BC’s “balanced budget” approach, but critics worry that these wage increases will further BC’s $10.9 billion deficit. The NDP government has confirmed that this wage increase would cost $419 million annually as a result of its implementation. 

These incoming increases contradict the “expenditure management targets” set by the NDP, of $300 million for the fiscal year of 2025-26, and $600 million in 2026-27. These targets are meant to be guidelines on general spending, not solid expectations for actual expenditure. If the $419 million estimated cost to the province becomes true, then it will completely surpass the “target” of $300 million set for the upcoming fiscal year. 

This news comes after the provincial government recently lifted the minimum wage to $17.85 per hour.

What about the Unions?

As of writing, the unions have not accepted the offer and are preparing their own counter-offers to bring to the table. 

In a public statement, the Hospital Employees’ Union secretary-business manager, Lynn Bueckert, said that the offer “fails to address the core challenges facing BC healthcare workers today, recruitment and retention,” and that “we can’t forget the government was re-elected last fall on a commitment to strengthen healthcare.”

BCGEU president Paul Finch told the Vancouver Sun that “we have made it clear to the employer that any path to a tentative agreement must include a monetary offer that meaningfully addresses the affordability crisis facing public service workers.” 

Finch also mentioned how the government has allowed a cumbersome bureaucracy, crowned by non-union employees and political appointees, to move against the wishes of frontline workers. 

With the previously mentioned $10.9 billion deficit, as well as a staggering total $156 billion debt forecasted for 2025/2026, this wage increase agreement has many critical voices worried that the NDP government can’t deliver its promise on managing provincial expenditure.