BC’s NDP government recently announced a $12 million budget increase to the Employment Standards Branch (ESB) — an 85 percent boost! This is a win for BC workers, who depend on the ESB to enforce their rights: without it, they are often at the mercy of their bosses, who profit from exploiting them. And this is a win, too, for Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alternative Youth, who energetically campaigned with the Worker Solidarity Network to increase funding to the ESB.
CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYONE!
The funding increase comes after decades of neglect — especially under the BC Liberals, but also under the NDP — that has reduced the ESB to a shell of its former self. Eight regional offices were closed and the number of enforcement staff was halved. Before this announcement, the ESB only employed 158 people — clearly insufficient to adequately enforce the rights of millions of BC workers! Predictably, this has allowed a culture of noncompliance with employment standards to flourish in the province: in fact, according to a damning 2022 report by the BC Employment Standards Coalition, 80 percent of workers in the province still effectively have no rights at work. On the ground, this translates into people working long hours, going without regular meal breaks, and having their wages stolen (the report estimates that in just a few years, between 2013-17, BC employers made off with $14.9 million in stolen wages). Those workers who complain about their mistreatment to the ESB often wait for years before justice is served, moreover; and it is widely accepted in legal cases that “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Now, finally, the government is doing something significant to address this shameful situation. The new budget increase is short of the $14 million that we campaigned for, but it could nonetheless make a huge difference in the lives of working people in BC. For example, it will create 33 new full-time positions at the ESB, greatly expanding the branch’s capacity and ability to protect workers.
Our Tactics are Effective
This important, if partial, victory was won, it should be emphasized, not by the 2017 election of the NDP alone. Rather, it was pressure generated by grassroots, working-class organizing that pushed the NDP to act. To this end, Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alternative Youth contributed by talking to people about the issue on the street, collecting petition signatures for the Worker Solidarity Network’s Justice Denied campaign, writing about it on this website, and helping to stage a protest action outside the ESB’s office in Victoria that was covered by local media. By this means, we helped change the calculus of the NDP, finally convincing them that their utter failure to protect workers’ rights in BC risked more trouble than it was worth and compelling them to act now rather than wait for the next election.
This is also how we helped to win five paid sick days for BC workers in the face of the COVID pandemic (another joint campaign with the Worker Solidarity Network) — although here, again, we did not get everything we wanted, as we campaigned for ten.
Considering our limited resources, these partial victories illustrate the effectiveness of our tactics: just think what we can do going forward, as Socialist Alternative Canada continues to grow!
Of course, BC workers deserve more than five sick days a year; the ESB is still underfunded, despite the recent budget increase; and the fight for true worker justice will continue until workers finally own the factories and fields and offices in which they toil. But it is important for us also to be mindful of the progress we make, to take heart from our victories, and to learn from them, just as we must learn from our defeats.
And what this massive funding increase to the ESB demonstrates is that we must do more than vote to win concessions from the ruling capitalist class. We must also be active; we must organize; and we must agitate.
If you are not already a member, consider joining Socialist Alternative on the front lines of the fight for workers’ rights, and help us celebrate our next victory. Forward to socialism!
