Breakthrough agreement in long B.C. highways strike

Deal with Argo Road Maintenance could set pattern for settlements with other private contractors

Vancouver (29 Aug. 2007) - The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) has reached a tentative settlement with Argo Road Maintenance.

The deal makes improvements in areas affecting all members. The gains include annual salary increases, improvements to sick benefits, auxiliary recall provisions, auxiliary wage scales, contracting out, job postings and successorship.

"This tentative deal comes after some hard bargaining and because 750 highways workers across the province have walked the picket line for weeks and months," says BCGEU president George Heyman. "It's a fair collective agreement and offers improvements in many areas to our members."

A ratification meeting and vote by members will be held later this week.

"We recommend our members ratify the settlement, and we expect that it will establish a pattern on core issues with other highway contractors around the province," Heyman added. "These areas need to settle and our members need to get back to work maintaining the roads and preparing for winter driving conditions."

A total of 750 BCGEU highways workers are off the job in nine service areas across B.C.

The approximately 115 BCGEU members employed by Argo in the north Okanagan have been on strike since May 28.

Update: Settlements with other contractors followed quickly. A tentative agreement with Okanagan Shuswap was ratified late on Aug. 29. South Okanagan and Thompson settled on Aug. 31 and Mainroad on Sept. 1. Negotiations were also taking place to finalize agreements in other areas where workers remained off the job. NUPGE

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