British Columbia General Employees' Union

The British Columbia General Employees' Union (BCGEU) is a trade union in British Columbia, Canada which represents over 85,000 members. The union employs over 200 servicing and administrative staff in 12 area offices across the province and at the Burnaby head office. The current President of the BCGEU is Stephanie Smith.[2] Smith was elected to this position in 2014. Previous Presidents were Darryl Walker,[3] George Heyman[4] and John T. Shields.

British Columbia General Employees' Union
British Columbia General Employees' Union
Founded1919 (1919)
HeadquartersBurnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Key people
Stephanie Smith, President Paul Finch, Treasurer [1]
AffiliationsBCFED/CLC
Websitewww.bcgeu.ca/home

Structure and history

The union, which dates from 1919, is divided into 550 different bargaining units. About a third of the BCGEU membership work in the provincial public (government) service. The rest work in the broader public sector, including community-based social services, healthcare, education and some crown agencies and authorities, and in the private sector, including credit unions, privatized highways maintenance companies and casinos.[5] On June 11, 2021, the union voted to rename itself from British Columbia Government and Services Employees Union [6] to British Columbia General Employees' Union [7]

The BCGEU first gained full bargaining rights under the BC Public Service Labour Relations Act in 1974.[8] Since then the BCGEU has been involved in a number of precedent-setting legal cases, including BCGEU v. British Columbia on picketing rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Meiorin case on the test for discrimination.

The union is divided into a component structure based on occupational groupings. Each component has geographically based locals. This is the union's component structure:

  • COMPONENT 1 - Corrections and Sheriff Services
  • COMPONENT 3 - Community Social Services
  • COMPONENT 4 - Health Services
  • COMPONENT 5 - Retail, Stores and Warehouse
  • COMPONENT 6 - Social, Information and Health
  • COMPONENT 7 - Education, Scientific, Technical and Administrative
  • COMPONENT 8 - Community Health Services
  • COMPONENT 10 - Operational Services
  • COMPONENT 12 - Administrative Services
  • COMPONENT 17 - General Services
  • COMPONENT 20 - Environmental, Technical and Operational

Most members of BCGEU Components 1, 5, 6, 12 and 20 are covered by B.C.'s Public Service Pension Plan. This pension plan currently has equity of over $23 billion. Most members of the other components are covered by the Municipal Pension Plan (MPP), the College Pension Plan (CPP) or the union's own targeted benefit pension plan.[9]

As the nature of public sector employment has changed in recent decades in British Columbia, the number of BCGEU members who work directly for the government has declined while the number of BCGEU members doing work that has been devolved from the provincial government or contracted to the private sector has increased. The BCGEU is now the leading union organizing casino workers in the province, negotiating strong collective agreements.[10]

Political involvement

Although the union's constitution commits the union to not affiliating with any political party, the BCGEU has been a significant and long-term supporter of the BC New Democratic Party, contributing $157,770.64 in the year following the 2009 provincial election.[11]

Staff

BCGEU staff are themselves unionized, being represented by the Union Workers' Union (UWU) and MoveUP, the Movement of Union Professionals. Bargaining between the BCGEU and its servicing staff (then members of -CEP) employees broke down in 2005, resulting in a multi-week strike.[12]

References
  1. BCGEU (8 March 2022). "BC General Employees' Union - Home". BC General Employees' Union. BCGEU. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  2. Rainlander (January 7, 2015). "President's Bio". BC General Employees' Union. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  3. Rainlander (January 7, 2015). "Darryl Walker's Bio". BC General Employees' Union. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  4. "Hon. George Heyman". www.leg.bc.ca. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  5. Rainlander. "BCGEU - Who We Are". BC Government and Service Employees' Union. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  6. "Convention 2021 wrap-up – a new executive and a new name".
  7. BC General Employees' Union [@bcgeu] (June 11, 2021). "OTD: #BCGEU21 delegates vote to change the union's name to: B.C. General Employees' Union!" (Tweet). Retrieved June 26, 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. "Quick Facts about the BCGEU". BC Government and Service Employees' Union. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  9. Rainlander (January 7, 2015). "BC Public Service Pension Plan". bcgeu.ca. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  10. Morna Ballantyne (February 15, 2007). "Reorganizing for power (the case of BCGEU)". Harvard Trade Union Program - A Participant's Blog. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  11. Sean Holman (May 5, 2011). "BCGEU support for the BC NDP on the rise". Public Eye Online. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-11-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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