A fair deal for employees and taxpayers

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George is committed to a fair deal for CUPE 1699 that balances our financial responsibility to taxpayers. We respect and appreciate the hard work of the nearly 100 CUPE 1699 employees at the Regional District and their commitment to serving residents and communities. 

The Regional District and CUPE 1699 were in mediation in August and provisionally agreed to other changes to the collective agreement. The remaining items to negotiate are financial, as the two outstanding issues are wages and vacation.

The Regional District considered a number of factors in the financial offer to CUPE 1699 including:

• Regional District budget projections
• historic, current and projected inflation rates
• current local and regional economic challenges and projected conditions
• other BC local government wages
• Regional District employees’ current benefits compared to other employers 

The Regional District’s 2026 budget preview shows tax rates could increase between 5% and 9.5%*. It is very challenging to balance community needs and ensure our services are financially sustainable over the long term. Our region is facing economic challenges, both in Prince George and in our smaller communities of Mackenzie, McBride and Valemount. The Regional District is conscious that residents expect that any financial offers will aim to keep annual tax rate increases at a reasonable level.

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George’s offer

CUPE 1699 rejected the Regional District’s final offer with wage increases of 18.5% over a five-year term: 

• 4.50% increase effective January 1, 2025
• 4.00% increase effective January 1, 2026
• 3.50% increase effective January 1, 2027
• 3.25% increase effective January 1, 2028
• 3.25% increase effective January 1, 2029

In addition to these wage increases, the offer also included more vacation within employees’ first 10 years of service and enhanced mental health, vision and dental benefits to align with our goals to retain valued employees and promote work/life balance. 

CUPE 1699 wants higher wages and more vacation time. Agreeing to their request will jeopardize the Regional District’s ability to maintain service levels and will result in greater tax increases for residents.

We put this last offer on the table in August to settle bargaining and to ensure there were no service impacts for residents. Now that CUPE 1699 has engaged in job action and services have been interrupted, we may need to re-evaluate the offer and align it with more recent settlements.  

The Regional District’s offer was fair and considered our last collective agreement with CUPE 1699:

• 3.24% plus $0.25 increase in 2022
• 4.00% increase in 2023
• 3.00% increase in 2024

The Regional District's general wage increases from 2022 to 2024 were higher than comparable BC local governments who provided 2.0% annual increases during their previous agreements. When compared to the City of Prince George and the Peace River Regional District's previous and current collective agreements, the Regional District's offer gave our employees higher wage increases by 1.39% and 3.14% over the periods outlined below and exceeded inflation.  

_{Inflation based on BC Consumer Price Index for preceeding year. 2026 Consumer Price Index estimated with Bank of Canada projections.}

_{Inflation based on BC Consumer Price Index for preceeding year. 2026 to 2028 Consumer Price Index estimated with Bank of Canada projections.}

Also, for comparison the recent BCGEU agreement includes wage increases of 3.00% per year for four years from 2025 to 2028, and the District of Squamish settled at 3.75% in 2025, 3.25% in 2026 and 3.00% in 2027.

The offer CUPE 1699 rejected is the maximum that the Regional District and its taxpayers can afford to remain fiscally prudent in the years ahead.

The Regional District understands the impact that job action is having and will continue to have on residents. We are hopeful to reach a fair deal for both Regional District employees and taxpayers.