The B.C. General Employees Union is turning up the heat again, this time with fire services.
As the BCGEU strike stretches into its eighth week, the union announced Wednesday that all remaining members from B.C. Wildfire and the Ministry of Forests will be joining the continuing job action, raising the total number of workers on strike to 25,000 across 550 work sites.
The BCGEU, which has been on strike since Sept. 2 as it tries to get the provincial government to, among other things, increase wages in line with what they see as the rate of inflation, began non-binding arbitration on Oct. 18.
The union is asking for an eight per cent increase over two years, while Provincial Finance Minister Brenda Bailey has countered with a five per cent raise over the same span.
While the strike has