Nearly 800 members of the Burnaby-based Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 378, are taking part in general strike action with two other unions on Sept. 5.
About 4,600 COPE 378 members are employed by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, according to a press release from the three unions.
The other unions taking part are the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union and the Professional Employees Association.
The unions expect about 27,000 members, who work for the provincial government, to participate in the action at 1,785 worksites across B.C., the release stated.
"We reluctantly take this action to send a message to the provincial government and ICBC that we're interested in getting a fair collective agreement," Jeff Gillies, vice-president of COPE 378, said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It's the first time in 32 years that our members have walked off the job."
The COPE 378 members will be picketing at 21 worksites in B.C., he said.
The union has been at the bargaining table with ICBC for a year-and-a-half, he added, and has engaged in job action since June.
"Unfortunately, it's made no to little difference at the bargaining table," Gillies said. "We feel this is the only way to show them we're serious."
The union's main concerns are wages, improved benefits, employees' workload and job security, Gillies said in a previous interview.
In July, the B.C. Labour Relations Board found that ICBC had not been bargaining in good faith with COPE 378 members regarding pay, as the Crown corporation had kept the issue out of negotiations.
However, since then, ICBC has not greatly increased what it is offering, Gillies said.
"That money is not sufficient," he said. "We don't feel it's fair or reasonable given the circumstances."
The union last met with the employer on Aug. 15, he added.
"We had high hopes of reaching a collective agreement," he said. "We're hopeful we can get some dates in September and get back to the table."
Dates are set for next month, according to Adam Grossman, senior media advisor for ICBC.
But he couldn't comment on any of the details of the negotiations, he said.
According to the list provided by the union, next week's job action won't take place at any of ICBC's Burnaby locations, Grossman said.
"The vast majority are Service B.C. Centres," he said. "Where we come into play is we do driver licensing services at some of those locations."
Most of the centres aren't in urban areas, he added.
Anyone who plans to renew their licence should probably avoid any of the centres listed by the unions as being picketed on Wednesday, he suggested.
"Some customers may be a bit inconvenienced by that, and we certainly apologize for that in advance," Grossman said.
COPE 378 members voted 87 per cent in favour of job action on April 24.
ICBC made an essential ser-vice application to the B.C. Labour Relations Board on April 19, suspending the union's ability to take action.
The board then handed down an interim order on June 13. The union can take job action with 48 hours' notice, "if the job action does not dip below the essential service levels applied for by ICBC."
Employees will maintain essential service levels during Wednesday's action, Gillies said.
ICBC has asked that claims, insurance and driver licensing services be declared essential during any potential job action.
The order is in place until the board issues a final order after the essential service hearings are finished.
The union began job action in
June with an overtime ban. The ban will be lifted after the job action on Wednesday, according to Gillies, to deal with any extra work that may accumulate during the one-day strike.
Union members also tried to take job action in July by attaching a signature to emails from their work accounts. The signature said, "We Work. You Drive. We Both Deserve Better." But a court decision has since prohibited the union from sending out information via work accounts, according to Gillies.
The union has also done some leafleting since then, he added.
ICBC's collective agreement expired in 2010. The two parties have been in negotiations since January 2011.
