Members of the British Columbia General Employees’ Union clap as union President Paul Finch speaks, outside an ICBC driver licensing office, in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS
‘Anxiety’ for restaurateurs as B.C. job action escalates to liquor warehouses
VANCOUVER - The head of a British Columbia restaurant industry association says businesses are in a state of “nervousness and anxiety” over possible liquor distribution disruptions as public service labour strife expands to several warehouses.
Members of the British Columbia General Employees’ Union clap as union President Paul Finch speaks, outside an ICBC driver licensing office, in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER - The head of a British Columbia restaurant industry association says businesses are in a state of “nervousness and anxiety” over possible liquor distribution disruptions as public service labour strife expands to several warehouses.
The BC General Employees’ Union announced Friday that it was escalating job action by starting an overtime ban at several Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse locations.
The union says the ban applies to distribution centres in Delta, Richmond and Kamloops as well as at the Liquor Distribution Branch’s head office in Burnaby, pushing the number of B.C. public service workers involved in job action to more than 6,000.
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Job action that includes pickets across B.C. is in its second week as the union’s 34,000 or so public service members seek higher compensation to address cost of living and other issues.
BC Restaurant and Food Services Association president Ian Tostenson says concern is at “eight-plus” out of 10, with the prospect of further job action in government-run liquor distribution looming.
Tostenson says while larger restaurants have begun increasing alcohol stocks, smaller family-run businesses have neither the space nor the funds to guard against disruption at the Liquor Distribution Branch.
“I liken it to, an example would be that you owned a bank and someone said, ‘I’m going to come and rob you at some point but I’m not going to tell you when,’” he says.
“So the feeling of nervousness and anxiety for us and uncertainty is paramount.”
He says the overtime ban itself should not affect current distribution too much beyond a slowdown in product movement, but it is a “warning shot” from the union in its dispute with the province.
“It just sets into motion an uncertainty that we shouldn’t be having to deal with, in an industry right now that’s been faced with major labour shortages in our kitchens and tariff uncertainties, economic uncertainties,” Tostenson says.Â
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“So for us to be party to a third-party labour dispute, we’re not happy about it.”
The BCGEU says the province has not returned to bargaining with a new offer, adding that the Ministry of Finance’s description of the union’s last proposal mischaracterizes workers’ position on wages.
The BCGEU says it proposes an 8.25 per cent wage increase over two years, while the province has said the union wants a 15.75 per cent compensation increase, including both wages and allowances.
The ministry had said the government’s offer when talks ended was a 4.5 per cent compensation increase over two years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2025.
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