VICTORIA – BC Ferries’ unionized team members are set to receive a one-year 7.75 per cent general wage increase, with many jobs receiving extra “special increases” including some licensed mariners receiving up to an additional 10.0 per cent, better reflecting the significant daily contributions they make and more closely aligning their pay with compensation standards across the industry. Today’s settlement is retroactive to October 1, 2023.
“We know wages haven’t kept up for our people and that more was needed for us to get back to being an employer of choice. I’m grateful to our people for the patience they demonstrated over the last few months,” said Nicolas Jimenez, President and CEO of BC Ferries.
“Getting to this point has been a long time coming. The offer we put on the table six months ago was a very good one then, and it’s still a very good one today – even more so when you consider it’s a one-year increase. In fact, it's one of the largest increases in the company’s history and certainly one of the biggest in Canada in recent years for a company our size.”
“I’m encouraged to see the arbitration panel fundamentally agree with our overall proposal and I’m happy we can now get on with paying our people more.”
The arbitration panel process, which is a longstanding feature set out in the collective agreement and one that was jointly agreed to by both the BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union and BC Ferries, had full independence and authority to determine what an appropriate, fair and reasonable wage increase should be.
BC Ferries proactively agreed to re-open wage negotiations six months earlier than required in order to start to address wage disparities, improve the standard of living for its people and better compete in a challenging labour market for mariners. With over 1,000 new hires over the last 12 months, BC Ferries has already seen its cancellations due to crewing shortages drop by 37 per cent. These new compensation levels should only help continue that trend.
The wage increase will be applied retroactively to October 1, 2023 and be in place to March 31, 2025. Bargaining unit wages are currently scheduled to be negotiated twice more in the next 18 months, with a second wage reopener in April 2025 and the full collective agreement in October 2025.
