B.C. public-sector unionized employees with ratified collective agreements will receive the maximum cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for their year 3 wage increase, the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday.

BC Stats has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) highlights report for February 2024, which confirms that the general wage increase for the third and last year of the 2022 agreements under the Shared Recovery Mandate will be 3%. This is comprised of the 2% guaranteed general wage increase and a COLA that is capped at 1%.

The COLA is based on the annualized average of B.C. CPI over the previous 12-month period of March to February. For the year 3 wage increase, the 12-month B.C. CPI average must exceed the guaranteed 2% general wage increase to trigger the additional cost-of-living adjustment. The amount of the additional increase is the difference between the 12-month average and the guaranteed general wage increase, up to the maximum of 1%. The 12-month B.C. CPI average from March 2023 to February 2024 reported today is 3.4%. Over the course of the applicable years of March 2021 to February 2024, inflation totalled 13.9%.

While it is not used for the purposes of determining the cost-of-living adjustments under the mandate, the current year-over-year B.C. inflation rate is 2.6%, which has gradually decreased since 2022. Unionized employees working in the provincial public sector received increases averaging about 13.75% over the course of the three-year term of the agreements, with some lower-paid workers getting more than 14% as a result of the flat increase of $0.25/hour plus 3.24% in year 1 of the mandate.

Negotiations under the Shared Recovery Mandate focused on providing fair and reasonable wage increases to public-sector workers that included significant inflation protection, while ensuring government has resources to continue to invest in building a stronger province for everyone.

Currently, more than 400,000 or 99% of unionized provincial public-sector employees are covered by tentative or ratified agreements reached under the mandate, including teachers and support staff in K-12 public education, all post-secondary institutions and research universities, health-sector employees and workers in community social services, as well as most Crown corporations.

Preliminary planning is underway for the 2025 round of negotiations in B.C.’s public sector. Total compensation to support the most vital public services that people in B.C. rely on costs approximately $43.8 billion annually – equivalent to roughly half of the Province’s budget. For unions and other negotiated agreements, a 1% increase in total compensation represents an annual cost of nearly $351 million, while an increase of 1% for all B.C. public-sector employees is estimated to cost $438 million. (Data as of April 2023)