Prince George, B.C. – Unionized employees at the Village of McBride have voted in favour of strike action after failing to reach a collective agreement with their employer.

Bargaining agent Audrey Wilkinson of the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) says they’ve been trying to reach an agreement ever since the workers certified as a union last March.

“It’s their first collective agreement and so for the last three months we’ve been engaged with a mediator and talks are still not moving into a final collective agreement which is what we all want.”

She says they’ve tried to work with the village to no avail. “We’ve offered to meet with the mayor and council to try and get some dialogue going to resolve the issues and they flat out said no way.”

Wilkinson says because they’re a union seeking their first deal they were left with the final option of seeking a mediator who has the ability to make recommendations (as allowed under section 55 of the Labour Relations Code).

“But to do that you have to take a strike vote so that’s what we’ve done. None of us want to strike but we will if we have to.”

She says there are actually eight outstanding issues between both sides including wages and a benefits package that would have saved the village money.

“It’s a better plan, we were offering them a cost savings and they refused flat out. I don’t know why they wouldn’t want to save taxpayers money so it doesn’t make sense to us.”

CLAC represent eight workers in McBride, six full-time staff and two part-timers. They include workers employed with the Village of McBride and the McBride Community Forest.

Jobs include public works and administrative positions.

Looking ahead, Wilkinson says the Labour Board has five days to establish a mediator and after that person is established 20 days to work out an agreement.

In addition to that she notes the CLAC has also filed an unfair labour practices complaint.

250News called McBride Mayor Loranne Martin to respond to this story but have not yet heard back.