In another blow to the provincial government, the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) has announced that nearly 23,000 B.C. healthcare workers are set to join the ongoing BCGEU strike.
In a media release sent out late Friday afternoon, the BCGEU said that members of the Community Bargaining Association (CBA), which includes 13,000 employees represented by the BCGEU, had announced that talks with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) had broken down, reaching an impasse.
According to the BCGEU, those CBA members work in critical, community-based healthcare services around the province. Some of the places that could be impacted include drug and alcohol treatment centres, adult daycare, detox and emergency shelters, women’s clinics, seniors’ services, mental health group homes and home support, among others.
The last agreement expired this March.
“Despite bargaining since March, the employer has failed to meaningfully engage on key non-monetary issues that matter most to frontline workers,” the BCGEU said in a release.
“CBA members serve some of the most vulnerable people in B.C.,” said Scott De Long, CBA Bargaining Chair and BCGEU Vice-President Community Health Services, in a statement.
“They work on the front lines of community health—often in precarious, high-risk environments—and they’ve been underpaid and undervalued for over 30 years. Our members are simply asking for fairness and equity, and they’ve more than earned it.”
In a statement, the BCGEU added that it’s “one of seven unions in the Community Bargaining Association, which represents nearly 23,000 workers across B.C.”
A strike vote would still need to commence before these workers walk off the job.
Earlier this week, thousands marched in downtown Vancouver in solidarity with the striking BCGEU members.
🪧 At yesterday’s march and rally, thousands of striking BCGEU members, union members, labour leaders and supporters flooded the streets to defend public services and calling on the provincial government to Fund the Frontlines.
✊ This show of strength reflects an even broader… pic.twitter.com/CEgq4LQKYL
— BCGEU (@bcgeu) October 2, 2025
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