BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[Locke]

Originally Posted by activeStick

You just want to see us who live here suffer even more...

Hey man, I get it. They can strike and close the weed and liquor stores but that wont stop a brick...

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by blankall

The margin for on-site sales is going to be much higher, as they are charging full price but not selling to the middle man first.

As far as on-site vs. distribution, that's going to depend on the individual brewery. Some have tons of presence in retail stores, but others have almost none. Almost all the breweries are going to be pretty packed during peak times, at this time of year.

There's also a lot of independent liquor stores in BC.

I'm pretty sure all the independent liquor stores source their products from the government distributor.

Breweries and wineries that sell on site is obviously different, and they won't be able to keep up with 100% of the provinces alcohol demand for any significant length of time.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'm pretty sure all the independent liquor stores source their products from the government distributor.

Breweries and wineries that sell on site is obviously different, and they won't be able to keep up with 100% of the provinces alcohol demand for any significant length of time.

Yeah, was just coming to post this. Even the independent stores have to buy their liquor from the government warehouses. I believe restaurants and bars also get their stuff from the LDB, but are allowed to purchase from liquor stores as well; which means that the average customer is going to be competing with larger purchase orders from the hospitality industry once that industry's stock runs low.

[JohnnyB]

Glad I have a well-stocked wine cellar.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The BCGEU announced job action starts today. The union is BC's largest, representing 33,000 provincial public sector employees. The strike is starting by targeting select liquor distribution centers and cannabis outlets.

The main point of contention is that workers want salaries tied to cost of living while the province is offering arbitrary increases much lower.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/strike-action-...uses-1.6027469

Perfect. Just in time for my first vacation since the pandemic.

[rubecube]

I do feel bad for the hospitality industry in all of this, as they're still struggling/recovering. That said, the union's demands are pretty reasonable compared to what the government is offering.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I do feel bad for the hospitality industry in all of this, as they're still struggling/recovering. That said, the union's demands are pretty reasonable compared to what the government is offering.

Genuinely curious - is a salary tied to cost of living - IN BC - actually reasonable? What metrics are used to determine a suitably fair salary?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by you&me

Genuinely curious - is a salary tied to cost of living - IN BC - actually reasonable? What metrics are used to determine a suitably fair salary?

They're talking about annual increases being tied to the rate of inflation. So if inflation for 2022 is 8%, then wages go up 8%.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by you&me

Genuinely curious - is a salary tied to cost of living - IN BC - actually reasonable? What metrics are used to determine a suitably fair salary?

Anything less than raises congruent with cost of living increases is essentially a wage cut. Cost of living was already badly outpacing salary increases for years for public employees before the recent agreement expired.

In most industries, it is pretty usual for a company to raise employee salaries yearly to keep up with cost of living. I don't see why the public sector should be any different.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Anything less than raises congruent with cost of living increases is essentially a wage cut. Cost of living was already badly outpacing salary increases for years for public employees before the recent agreement expired.

In most industries, it is pretty usual for a company to raise employee salaries yearly to keep up with cost of living. I don't see why the public sector should be any different.

At the moment I dont think its a matter of sector or industries, Cost of Living is way, way out of whack at the moment.

I dont think its terribly unreasonable to maybe determine a smoothed out average as opposed to reacting to a currently very unstable atmosphere and just firing out 10% raises to everyone.

It seems more prudent to operate on historical averages in terms of cost of living than just going with the madness right now and working off of that though.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by you&me

Genuinely curious - is a salary tied to cost of living - IN BC - actually reasonable? What metrics are used to determine a suitably fair salary?

The problem with doing that is you see some pretty dramatic swings in the cost of living in BC. There's been years where rent has increased 20% in a year. A lot of organizations simply won't have the ability to absorb a corresponding wage increase like that.

Our economy, in Canada generally, is fundamentally flawed right now where cost of living is growing far in excess of other metrics. No wage earners inside or outside of unions/governments are seeing their wages increase with the cost of living. It definitely seems like a reasonable demand to have wages increase with the cost of living, but how do you have one sector of the economy just keep up with that?

If it's just government employees getting more money, they are going to have unfair advantages over other wage earners. If it's all wage earners seeing the increase, you'll just end up with inflation. You can't spend your way out of a housing shortage. if you want rent to be cheaper, we need to have more places to rent.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

In most industries, it is pretty usual for a company to raise employee salaries yearly to keep up with cost of living. I don't see why the public sector should be any different.

No it's not. All wage earners are feeling the pinch right now.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Anything less than raises congruent with cost of living increases is essentially a wage cut. Cost of living was already badly outpacing salary increases for years for public employees before the recent agreement expired.

In most industries, it is pretty usual for a company to raise employee salaries yearly to keep up with cost of living. I don't see why the public sector should be any different.

I’ve talked with several people about salaries in Calgary in recent years (including someone who works in HR), and the most commonly cited figure for cost-of-living increase is 3 per cent. These are private-sector numbers. I don’t know if that’s just a Calgary thing, with salaries still depressed due to the energy-industry downturn (though not all the examples were in the energy industry).

I’d be curious to see the average annual private-sector increases in B.C. in recent years. Workers in all sectors may be losing out to rising cost of living. I’d be surprised if there’s a substantial gap between the private and public sector.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blankall

The problem with doing that is you see some pretty dramatic swings in the cost of living in BC. There's been years where rent has increased 20% in a year. A lot of organizations simply won't have the ability to absorb a corresponding wage increase like that.

Our economy, in Canada generally, is fundamentally flawed right now where cost of living is growing far in excess of other metrics. No wage earners inside or outside of unions/governments are seeing their wages increase with the cost of living. It definitely seems like a reasonable demand to have wages increase with the cost of living, but how do you have one sector of the economy just keep up with that?

If it's just government employees getting more money, they are going to have unfair advantages over other wage earners. If it's all wage earners seeing the increase, you'll just end up with inflation. You can't spend your way out of a housing shortage. if you want rent to be cheaper, we need to have more places to rent.

Yes. Essentially this.

Cost of Living is essentially a roller-coaster right now. Thats not a demand that can be met.

Not to mention that this is a Province-wide Union. The cost of living in Vancouver is not going to be accurately reflected for an employee in Kamloops, Kelowna or Prince George.

[Lumby Lager]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yeah, was just coming to post this. Even the independent stores have to buy their liquor from the government warehouses. I believe restaurants and bars also get their stuff from the LDB, but are allowed to purchase from liquor stores as well; which means that the average customer is going to be competing with larger purchase orders from the hospitality industry once that industry's stock runs low.

This is already the case, anyone in BC with a liquor resale license must order products from their local BC liquor store. The product gets shipped from one of the four distribution centres to the store and is essentially cross docked at the store. Any licensee that directly shops from the store shelves is limited and are only allowed to take 25% of what is currently on the shelf.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Locke

At the moment I dont think its a matter of sector or industries, Cost of Living is way, way out of whack at the moment.

I dont think its terribly unreasonable to maybe determine a smoothed out average as opposed to reacting to a currently very unstable atmosphere and just firing out 10% raises to everyone.

It seems more prudent to operate on historical averages in terms of cost of living than just going with the madness right now and working off of that though.

The problem is that the BC public sector is the lowest paid public sector in Canada, so they're already way behind COLA. The ask is 5% per year over two years or COLA, whichever is higher. Considering that MLAs have already tied their salaries to inflation/COLA, and BC's minimum wage is also tied to inflation, it's not unreasonable for government workers to ask for the same.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Locke

At the moment I dont think its a matter of sector or industries, Cost of Living is way, way out of whack at the moment.

I dont think its terribly unreasonable to maybe determine a smoothed out average as opposed to reacting to a currently very unstable atmosphere and just firing out 10% raises to everyone.

It seems more prudent to operate on historical averages in terms of cost of living than just going with the madness right now and working off of that though.

The BC provincial ministers set the bar though. They ran a deficit and usually when that happens, 10% of their salary gets withheld. The threw an amendment into the budget to allow themselves to keep that 10% citing cost of living. And they make around $200k/year

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Locke

Not to mention that this is a Province-wide Union. The cost of living in Vancouver is not going to be accurately reflected for an employee in Kamloops, Kelowna or Prince George.

That is another issue. Some BC ministries get way more applicants for jobs in the Peace and Nicola-Thompson regions than they do in the Lower Mainland. There is talk among managers in the Lower Mainland that they need a Lower Mainland living allowance similar to how people get a Northern living allowance just to attract and keep qualified people.

This isn't something the union is going to fight for now, but there is talk about it in some circles.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by blankall

The problem with doing that is you see some pretty dramatic swings in the cost of living in BC. There's been years where rent has increased 20% in a year. A lot of organizations simply won't have the ability to absorb a corresponding wage increase like that.

Our economy, in Canada generally, is fundamentally flawed right now where cost of living is growing far in excess of other metrics. No wage earners inside or outside of unions/governments are seeing their wages increase with the cost of living. It definitely seems like a reasonable demand to have wages increase with the cost of living, but how do you have one sector of the economy just keep up with that?

If it's just government employees getting more money, they are going to have unfair advantages over other wage earners. If it's all wage earners seeing the increase, you'll just end up with inflation. You can't spend your way out of a housing shortage. if you want rent to be cheaper, we need to have more places to rent.

Could give a #### about having a place to Rent, there's more than enough of those, I'd like to be approved for the Mortgage that'd be less than 60% of my current real rent cost (not including utilities) without having to provide a ####ing 40% down payment. Meanwhile there's thousands of asshats out there getting approved for their 10th mortgage (off the collateral from other properties they've yet to fully pay off) for a pure rental property that they proceed to gouge people like me for the priveledge of more than completely subsidizing said mortgage. 10/10 system.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I’ve talked with several people about salaries in Calgary in recent years (including someone who works in HR), and the most commonly cited figure for cost-of-living increase is 3 per cent. These are private-sector numbers. I don’t know if that’s just a Calgary thing, with salaries still depressed due to the energy-industry downturn (though not all the examples were in the energy industry).

I’d be curious to see the average annual private-sector increases in B.C. in recent years. Workers in all sectors may be losing out to rising cost of living. I’d be surprised if there’s a substantial gap between the private and public sector.

Calgary is in a bit of a unique situation, as they are still absorbing the excess of condos that were built during the last big housing boom. Calgary still has excess condos, which is housing of some kind.

In BC the situation is totally different. They ran out of houses, then townhouses, then condos, and now there's just nothing left. On top of that you have pressures from short term rentals (ex. Air BnB), investors, international students/migrants, etc...