Progress in ES means strike is imminent - BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)


We're pleased to report that we made significant progress in our essential service (ES) negotiations on Jan 21 & 22. Mediation talks have turned a bit in our favor, so if we continue down this path, we're likely to finalize our ES levels on Jan 29 (the next scheduled mediation date) or soon after, depending on the employer's willingness to co-operate.

Strike Ready
This progress dovetailed with our first day of picket captain training at the BCGEU offices on Jan 23. It's clear we have a passionate group of members ready to support you if we have to escalate to a strike. And with 30 more members signed-up for additional in-person picket captain training, plus 40 signed-up for online training, we're confident that we can pack some punch with a strategic picketing plan that will both disrupt Quest's profit-forward, Amazon-style approach to BC's labs and protect LifeLabs' most vulnerable patients. 

Everyone who volunteered to be a picket captain should have been contacted by now. If you did not get your schedule, please contact your regional bargaining committee member as soon as possible. 

Protect Your Pay
If we do strike, picketing members will receive strike pay. We'll have more details on this soon. In the meantime, please sign up for a BCGEU member account using your member ID number so that we can get your strike pay to you, in the event of a strike: my.bcgeu.ca/signup. Our union needs your most up-to-date information to get you this money; even if you already have an online member account, please ensure your profile is updated. 


Because the employer has expended significant resources trying to weaken our traditional strike power in ES negotiations, we want to assure you that we have been busy devising other creative pressure tactics to augment any potential strike action and maximize our power. We will fill you in on these strategies very soon! Quest is a giant, so pushing for the pay and working conditions we need to keep working at LifeLabs will take all of us getting involved.

In solidarity,

Your LifeLabs Bargaining Committee

Mandy De Fields, Bargaining Committee Chairperson
Kelly Jeffs, Bargaining Committee Vice-Chairperson
Maryam Baghalha, Bargaining Committee member
Tony Ly, Bargaining Committee member
Rosario Viray, Bargaining Committee member
Wendy Cummer, Bargaining Committee member
Linsay Buss, Staff Representative - Negotiations 



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