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Update on Essential Pay for Essential Work - BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)


Over the last year, we have done tremendous work to pressure the Minister of Finance Selina Robinson, and BCLDB CEO Blain Lawson, to provide us with essential pay for our essential work during this pandemic. This email will provide you with an update on the status of our efforts, and where we’re headed next.
 
Our efforts to date

Essential Pay for Essential Work has always been about getting you, the workers at the stores and warehouses of the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch, financial recognition for your government-deemed essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also been about all of us being connected and engaged as a collective. And I’m proud to say that many of you stepped up to the campaign working group to lead us in action.
 
Our actions included online petitions, wearing buttons on the job, calling each other to ensure we had up-to-date contact info and union cards signed for everyone, attending the BCLDB’s virtual town hall en masse emailing, or tweeting Minister Robinson, leafleting outside stores, and rallying.
 
With each action we saw more and more Component 5 members get involved and, as a result, we increased our pressure.
 
Although we haven’t yet received essential pay, our goal to organize amongst ourselves and act together has been achieved. And there is so much more we can do with this foundation!
 
Next steps

As you’re aware, our union is preparing to begin bargaining for our next collective agreement with the Province of British Columbia. As we are 3,500 of 30,000 workers encompassed by that agreement, our union’s Public Service Bargaining Committee has determined that the campaign for essential pay will continue in coordination with bargaining efforts. Once we have a sense of progress at the bargaining table, we’ll determine next steps for achieving essential pay.
 
Bargaining
 
Bargaining is our union’s opportunity to address critical issues impacting members’ wages and working conditions. From your activism for essential pay, and the results of the Public Service Bargaining survey and poll completed by you and other BCGEU members in November, we know money is a top priority and, as a result, is a top priority in our union’s bargaining mandate.
 
And just like we needed all of us to be engaged for essential pay, we’ll need all of us to be engaged for bargaining. Keep your eyes on your inbox and social media for more information about our collective bargaining actions and stay connected with your stewards.
 
What you can do right now

  • Encourage all your coworkers to sign union cards. If they haven’t, put them in touch with the local steward or, in the case there is no local steward, the union area office.
     
  • Encourage all your coworkers to ensure their contact info is up to date with our union. Info can be submitted through the BCGEU Member Portal. If you haven’t yet signed up for access to the Member Portal, you can do so here.
     
  • Encourage all your coworkers, friends and family to email the Finance Minister and/or tweet her to authorize essential pay from BCLDB revenue
     
  • Request a meeting with your MLA to discuss the need for essential pay and ask your MLA to speak to the Finance Minister on our behalf. Let me know if you do this so I can support!

Finally, keep your eyes peeled for our union’s Shop Public ads! Shop Public is our component’s bi-annual advertising campaign that aims to remind the public that where they shop for their liquor and cannabis makes a difference – namely in revenue for B.C. public services! This fall we moved our ads from radio to online to direct viewers to ShopPublic.ca. We also intentionally targeted our Shop Public ads at the same neighbourhoods in B.C. where we leafleted for essential pay. By using our annual advertising budget in this way, we are amplifying the public’s awareness of your value. We’ll continue to do so over this December holiday period.
 
If you have any questions about essential pay, bargaining, or our Shop Public ads, please respond to this email.
 
Many thanks to the campaigns committee for all their work on this campaign, and thank you for your determination and solidarity in all that we do together!

 
In solidarity,

Kusam Doal
BCGEU Vice President, Component 5 (Retail and Warehouse)



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