BCGEU President Darryl Walker Biography

Darryl Walker was elected president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union in 2008, and was re-elected to that position in June 2011. The BCGEU represents over 65,000 women and men in more than 450 bargaining units in B.C.'s public service, broader public sector and the private sector. Walker has worked as a health care worker and activity worker at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute and Riverview Hospital since 1973, where he was responsible for coordinating group programs and providing support for people with mental illness in a secure setting.

A BCGEU activist since 1982, Walker became a job steward and took an active role in the Operation Solidarity campaign to oppose the Social Credit government's program of severe cuts to public services.

Walker served on the Local 203 executive from 1984-1999, and as the Hospital and Allied Services Component chair person from 1994-1999. He was also a member of the Component Two Bargaining Committee from 1990-1998, and has served on Article 29 and Article 36 committees.

In 1999, Walker was elected as a provincial vice president of the BCGEU, where he has served on several Provincial Executive committees, including: Finance, Education, Environment, Community and Social Action, Occupational Health and Safety, Constitution and Structure, Resolutions, and Grievance Appeal.

A committed environmentalist, Walker has worked with his colleagues on the Environment Committee to create the BCGEU's Cool Communities Campaign to facilitate members' global warming initiatives in their home communities.

Walker represents the union on the West Coast Environmental Law Society board, and has worked closely with allied organizations like the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and the Sierra Legal Defence Fund on environmental advocacy projects.

Occupational health and safety has also been a long-standing commitment for Walker, who is a director of the Occupational Health & Safety Agency for Healthcare in BC (OHSAH). Through Walker's leadership, the BCGEU has jointly sponsored occupational health and safety conferences, focusing on reducing workplace injuries and illness in the Community Health and Community Social Services sectors.

An avid gardener and former theatre actor and instructor, Walker continues to coach youth soccer and baseball teams in his home community of White Rock, B.C.

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