BC Ferries announces 7.75% wage increase for unionized workers

BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay terminal (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

On Thursday evening, BC Ferries announced it will be providing its unionized workers a one-year 7.75% general wage increase.

This general wage increase is a one-time move, with many jobs receiving extra “special increases,” including some licensed mariners receiving up to an additional 10%.

These increases are retroactive to starting on October 1, 2023, and will be in place until March 31, 2025.

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The offer was first proposed six months ago, and it was jointly agreed through an independent arbitration panel process between the employer and the BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union.

According to the ferry corporation, the wage increases enable BC Ferries to more closely align pay compensation with the standards across the industry.

“We know wages haven’t kept up for our people and that more was needed for us to get back to being an employer of choice. I’m grateful to our people for the patience they demonstrated over the last few months,” said Nicolas Jimenez, president and CEO of BC Ferries, in a statement.

“In fact, it’s one of the largest increases in the company’s history and certainly one of the biggest in Canada in recent years for a company our size. “I’m encouraged to see the arbitration panel fundamentally agree with our overall proposal and I’m happy we can now get on with paying our people more.”

As this wage increase is an interim stop-gap measure, bargaining unit wages are currently scheduled to be negotiated twice more over the next 18 months, with the second wage reopener in April 2025 and the full collective agreement in October 2025.

In the meantime, until there is a longer term agreement, this wage increase will aid BC Ferries with retaining and attracting employees, which will in turn reduce the number of sailing cancellations due to crew shortages.

According to the ferry corporation, it has hired over 1,000 new staff over the past 12 months, which has resulted in a 37% drop in the number of cancellations due to crew shortages.

BC Ferries has been deemed an essential transportation service for over 20 years after a binding arbitration decision in 2003 ended a highly disruptive strike and removed the ability for workers to legally strike. The coastal ferry system is considered an extension of the highway system and, therefore, the overwhelming key link for the movement of people, goods, and services for many coastal communities, especially those without road access.

Earlier this week, BC Ferries released the results of its initial survey, conducted in late 2023, towards creating its long-term “Charting the Course” master plan for service expansion and improvements. It attracted over 9,000 survey respondents, with 91% indicating reliability needs to be a goal, and nearly half asking to rate their overall experience with services over the past year indicating they have some degree of dissatisfaction.

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