BCGEU Wildfire Council Sector News

As we approach the end of 2025, we wanted to use this as an opportunity to touch on a couple of things we heard since the ratification of this round of collective bargaining and provide a summary on the sector council subcommittees.

What we've been hearing

For too long now, we know that Wildfire Assistants across the province have received inconsistent messaging from the organization on what the long-term vision is for this position, and we recognize the frustration and disappointment this has left many people feeling. As Component 20 Vice President, Sebastian has committed to communicating with the employer and will be requesting transparent communication regarding the employer's intent for the position to be shared with BCWS members.

More recently, there has been a lot of conversation around the ratification of the collective bargaining agreements. We know that there are BCWS members across all components within the organization that experienced disappointment in not seeing their positions or concerns reflected directly in these agreements. Due to the timing of the sector council being stood up aligning with when bargaining packages were already being solidified, the sector council was not able to put forward bargaining package recommendations to all components. However, with bargaining now being wrapped up, there are other avenues that the sector council and BCGEU can use to pursue issues that are raised by BCWS members, such as the Article 29 Wildfire subcommittee (listed in the subcommittee work below).

Subcommittee work

Governance subcommittee

This subcommittee is working on updating the policy that is used to form the membership and structure of the Wildfire Sector Council to ensure more equal representation of all three components. This subcommittee is made up of Nicole Bonnett, Wayne Desmond, Kathryn Shiach, Sebastian Kallos, and is chaired by Brad Litke.

OHS subcommittee

This subcommittee is working on presumptive coverage, camp conditions, hearing tests for dispatchers, and organizing a meeting with provincial JOHS chairs to solicit input from members. The subcommittee is made up by Johnathan Baggio, Jessa Barber, Sandy Johnston, Sebastian Kallos, and is chaired by Danny Larsen.

Communications subcommittee

This subcommittee is focused on supporting internal communications between the sector council and the broader BCGEU and on external communications from the sector council out to BCWS members. They have been finalizing internal and external communications plans, establishing a communications materials distribution process with the BCGEU communications team and are working to establish avenues for two-way communication, including creating opportunities for BCWS members to provide feedback and input into priorities for future work. They hope you take the time to access the survey (it really is a short one…we promise) so that the sector council can hear from you! This subcommittee is made up of Hannah Kitchin, Mikhail Elsay, Sebastian Kallos, and is chaired by Nicole Bonnett.

Job Classification subcommittee

This subcommittee was initially focused on streamlining the process for BCWS members looking to pursue the Job Reclassification Appeal process, including increasing awareness and information sharing between positions and members pursuing the appeal process. However, now that a new Job Classification system process needs to be developed as part of the recent ratification to the agreement, this subcommittee will be prioritizing gathering information to help members determine whether or not they would like to proceed with existing appeals through the old process or wait for the new process to be established. They will also be working to provide a structure to help inform the new job classification plan. The subcommittee is made up of Brad Litke, Wayne Desmond, Sebastian Kallos and is chaired by Dimitri Vaisius.

Political Action subcommittee

This subcommittee is focused on changes to the National Occupational Classifications, the National Advisory Group on Cancers Linked to Firefighting, Provincial/National Fire Fighter Memorials, working with the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and developing relationships with Members of Parliament (MPs) to further wildfire interests. This subcommittee is made up of Ben Bouchet, Adam Kral, Jon McCuaig, Dimitri Vaisius, Sebastian Kallos, and is chaired by Brad Litke.

Article 29 Wildfire subcommittee

This subcommittee has been on pause during the collective bargaining period. Now that the agreements have been ratified this subcommittee will restart in the new year. The subcommittee is meant to be comprised of members from within the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) and include equal representation from the Employer and the BCGEU. The scope of their work is defined in Article 29 of the main agreement but is generally to resolve issues that may lead to a grievance (this does not include actual grievances) or to resolve collective agreement interpretation issues with the intent of fostering good relations. Topics previously discussed by this subcommittee include eDiaries, No Lunch Taken (NLT), Occupational Safe Work Standard (OSWS) 2, WFX Fitness test, Maternity Leave accommodations etc. To date, there have been two seats for Component 20 and two seats for Component 12 representatives. As of a week ago, the seats for this subcommittee are undergoing restructuring to ensure Component 6 representation moving forward. As the subcommittee starts back up in the new year, the sector council will be refreshing the membership of this subcommittee.

We want to hear from you!

Please take the time to fill out this short (six question) survey to provide input and help the sector council better understand the issues that affect our members in all three components across the organization. Your input will help the sector council determine the priorities and initiatives we should be focusing on to improve the workplace for all.

Please note that the survey deadline is 23:45 on December 23, 2025 after which the survey link will no longer work.

The sector council's next meeting is scheduled for mid-January of 2026 and will be followed by a Wildfire Sector Council News Bulletin Update.

In solidarity,

BCGEU Wildfire Sector Council Chair
Sebastian Kallos

UWU/MoveUP