There are now more than 17,000 public service workers on strike in British Columbia.
After talks between the BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU) and province broke down on Monday, strike action has been escalating all week.
On Friday, nearly 900 additional workers from 22 worksites joined job action.
Over 20 more BC liquor stores and cannabis stores as well as frontline staff from the Ministry of Environment and Parks; Children & Family Development; Energy and Climate Solutions; and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship also joined the strike.
Picket lines are set up across the province and stores and office buildings are shuttered as job action continues.
The BC Interior is being heavily impacted by the strike.
Non-BC Liquor Store sites:
Four locations in Cranbrook
Four location in Kamloops
Two locations in Kelowna
One location in Penction
Those sites include the provincial government’s ministry offices.
Workers are participating in job action at several BC liquor and cannabis stores across the Interior.
That includes locations in Armstrong, Castlegar, Enderby, Kamloops, Kelowna, Osoyoos, Penticton, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Summerland and Vernon.
"Our members are showing incredible strength and resolve," said Paul Finch, BCGEU president and chair of the public service bargaining committee.
"Every day this government delays, pressure on public services grows. Public service workers deserve wages that keep up with the cost of living. The government must return to the table now with a serious offer-or job action will escalate further. We are not backing down."
The strike is closing out its sixth week and the union said job action will continue to intensify until the province comes back with a fair wage offer.
Last month, the union was seeking an increase of 4% in the first year and 4.25% in the second.
The province brought forward an increase of 3.5%.
Despite the BCGEU lowering their offer to 4% each year over two years, for a total of 8%, the province returned to the bargaining table on Monday with an offer of a 2% increase per year over two years, totaling 4%.
🚨 BARGAINING UPDATE:
— BCGEU (@bcgeu) September 30, 2025
The public service bargaining committee resumed negotiations with the provincial government this morning, after four weeks of job action and over 15,000 workers on pickets lines across the province. Unfortunately, negotiations have broken down once again, as… pic.twitter.com/dkk2H9mTR1
"We've been transparent from the start. Our proposal is modest, reasonable, and in line with what's needed to ensure public service workers don't keep falling behind," said Finch, on Monday.
The BCGEU said the government is publicly stating they offered a 5% increase over two years, but the union said this is not an increase to general wages.
“That 5 per cent figure bundles in market adjustments and other unrelated items, which not all members would receive,” the union said in a news release.
“Until government takes bargaining seriously, strike action will continue to grow.”
This latest strike escalation follows a massive downtown Vancouver rally, where more than 2,000 union members and supporters.
