The BC Liberals have worked to ensure that workers are safe on the job, treated fairly in labour negotiations, and have the opportunity to support their family and contribute to B.C.’s economy.
Top Highlights
Because we believe public servants deserve fair compensation, we launched a successful innovative negotiating framework in 2005 that enabled us to reach 166 negotiated settlements representing 320,000 employees.
Our framework also resulted in the first-ever negotiated settlement with the B.C. Teachers Federation.
The negotiated agreements ensure public sector labour peace through the 2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games.
We amended the Employment Standards Act to restore a worker’s democratic right to a secret ballot vote for union certification and to protect workers from bullying by union bosses and recruiters.
We started reforming WorkSafe BC (WCB) in 2002 to improve the appeals process, improve processes to ensure the long-term sustainability of workers' benefits, and replaced the governing board.
Our changes have been successful in ensuring the sustainability and affordability of WorkSafe BC while providing generous benefits. It’s now operating at a surplus, and employer premium rates have actually decreased.
We brought in Grant’s Law – protecting worker safety – in response to the tragic death of Grant De Patie who died on the job during a gas-and-dash.
Our average hourly wage is over $22.00 – more than 2.75 times minimum wage and nearly 24 per cent higher than 2001
Employment Standards We believe in a balanced labour code that fosters constructive relations between employers and employees. Balancing the rights of workers and employers protects workers while maintaining the flexibility needed to succeed in a modern economy.
We immediately returned balance to the labour code in 2001, and saw the number of worker days lost because of strikes and lockouts drop by 45 per cent.
To restore balance we amended the Employment Standards Act and restored the democratic right to a secret ballot vote for union certification, protecting against bullying by union bosses and recruiters.
We amended the Employment Standards Act to allow workers to negotiate flexible hours with employers to better reflect work/life balance. Employer/Employee agreements of this nature were not permitted under the NDP’s labour code during the 1990s.
We eliminated sectoral bargaining (a legal requirement that one union contract apply to an entire sector of an industry) to allow workers and employers to negotiate contracts that reflect differences in regions and conditions of work.
We imposed the strongest mandatory penalties in Canada for breaches of the Employment Standards Act.
Minimum Wage & Training Wage We believe in setting a fair minimum wage that maximizes employment and helps create a competitive job market that increases demand for workers and drives wage growth.
Minimum Wage
In 2001 we increased minimum wage to $8 per hour, at the time and for many years it was the highest minimum wage of all the provinces. Only now are other provinces catching up to B.C.
Our strong economy means the percentage of people earning minimum wage has gone down every year under our government.
The average hourly wage in B.C. is over $22 per hour – more than 2.5 times minimum wage and nearly 24 per cent higher than 2001.
Average hourly wage for youth is over $13 - 1.5 times the minimum wage and third-highest in Canada.
Real disposable income per capita has gone up every single year since 2001 and we now lead the national average.
According to StatsCan, the number of people earning minimum wage is actually decreasing - from six per cent of workers in 2001 to 2.7 per cent in 2008, the second-lowest proportion in Canada.
That same study shows that nearly two-thirds of individuals earning minimum wage today are under the age of 25, and a very large number of those individuals attend school as well as work or are part of economic units with multiple incomes
Training Wage
The first job wage rate ($6/hour) only applies to the first 500 hours of employment, after which employers must pay at least the $8 minimum wage.
In part due to the training wage, youth unemployment dropped from 17.4 per cent in 1998 to 8.4 per cent in 2008.
The average hourly rate for youth is up and is 1.5 times higher than minimum wage.
Additional Programs
We’ve introduced numerous tax cuts and programs to enhance low-wage incomes, including:
Multiple reductions to personal income taxes – B.C. now has the lowest rates for anyone earning up to $116,000.
250,000 of the lowest income earners now pay no income taxes at all.
For a family of four earning $30,000 per year, that's nearly $1,000 per year in savings.
Changes to MSP premiums means that 215,000 families have their premiums reduced from 2001 levels.
Fair Pharmacare lowered costs for 300,000 people, saving lower-income families hundreds of dollars a year.
Our new Rental Supplement Program provides rental subsidies to over 7700 families of up to $765 per month for a lower-income family of four (nearly $9,200 per year) - a program that the NDP rejected as "a gift to landlords".
Enhancements to programs such as the childcare subsidy, where a single parent of two children under age 6 earning up to $38,000 per year will see their annual subsidy double to over $14,200 per year (a nearly $7,000 a year increase).
from bad operators. For example, we instituted mandatory direct deposit of pay and payment in Canadian currency.
We added new protections for workers to allow up to eight weeks unpaid job-protected compassionate care leave to allow employees to take care of a sick family member.
We added new protections for our soldiers to ensure the jobs of military reservists are protected when they are called to duty.
Under our balanced labour code, the number of complaints dropped by almost 50 per cent – that’s 5,000 fewer complaints per year at a time when 370,000 more people are working.
We eliminated the backlog in processing complaints. Now most are reviewed within two weeks compared to up to six months under the 1990’s NDP, and 90 per cent are resolved within six months compared to up to two years under the NDP.
We believe public servants deserve fair compensation that respects the taxpayer’s ability to pay, relevant labour market conditions, and ensures high quality service for taxpayers.
Under our government we’ve had the lowest number of strikes and lockouts in over 30 years.
We launched an innovative negotiating framework in 2005 that offered $5.7 billion through 2009/10, and included $1 billion bonus for signing by March 31, 2006.
As a result of the negotiating framework, we reached 166 negotiated settlements representing 320,000 employees – or 99 per cent of the public service.
Our framework also resulted in the first-ever negotiated settlement with the B.C. Teachers Federation.
The negotiated agreements ensure public sector labour peace through the 2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games.
On average, B.C.’s public service is now the third-best paid in the country
Given the difficult fiscal situation, this will also mean there is little additional room for wage increases beyond 2010.
WorkSafe BC (Formerly WCB)
Every worker deserves to work in a safe environment and that’s why we have worked in cooperation with industry and other partners to develop safety regulations that deliver real safety results, not red tape, with strong enforcement and stiff penalties.
We started reforming WCB in 2002 to improve the appeals process, improve processes to ensure the long-term sustainability of workers' benefits, and replaced the governing board.
Our changes have been successful in ensuring the sustainability and affordability of WorkSafe BC while providing generous benefits. It’s now operating at a surplus, and employer premium rates have actually decreased.
We eliminated redundant and duplicate regulations at WorkSafeBC to help streamline costs for employers and simplify rights for workers – over 14,000 regulations have been cut since 2001.
WorkSafeBC has more prevention and investigation officers in the field now than at any other time in our history.
WorkSafeBC conducted 29,893 inspections in 2007 — the highest number since 2000 — and imposed $4.3 million in penalties for serious non-compliance with health and safety laws and regulations.
New measures were introduced in 2007 to strengthen new and young worker orientation and training, including a new interactive web site that allows young workers to post their health and safety stories, and youth ambassadors raised awareness about workplace safety at events throughout B.C.
Foreign temporary workers (typically employed in agriculture and construction) are compensated by WorkSafeBC when injured like any other worker in B.C.
There were 139 work-related deaths in 2007 compared to 160 in 2006, and 188 in 2005, the 2nd lowest number in the past 9 years. The majority of deaths were from occupational diseases.
We recently amended the Workers Compensation Act to add primary site lung cancer for non-smokers to the list of cancers already recognized as occupational diseases for firefighters .
We first recognized certain cancers as occupational diseases linked to firefighting in 2005 and 2008 to include the following primary site cancers: brain, bladder, kidney, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ureter, colorectal, leukemia and testicular cancer.
Grant’s Law & Working Alone
In response to the tragic death of Grant De Patie who died trying to prevent a gas-and-dash, we brought in a pay before you pump law that applies 24/7.
Grant’s Law can eliminate gas and dash thefts and the risks they pose to workers.
WorkSafeBC undertook consultation with industry and customers, and independent surveys by Ipsos show 77 per cent support for pay before you pump.
We also created new regulations to enhance the safety of employees who work alone.
After implementation, employees working overnight in retail outlets must be physically separated from the public or a 2nd worker will have to be on site.
