The table is set for disruptions this fall in B.C. thanks to many unions that have strike mandates in contract negotiations.

More than 452,000 unionized employees in B.C. are seeking new deals. Those workers include teachers, nurses, social workers, health-care employees, post-secondary staff and others.

Unions are likely to dig in their heels for better contracts because inflation has soared in the past five years and workers’ wages have not kept pace, Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) chief economist Jock Finlayson told BIV.

“They’re making more noise,” he said of unions. “That’s not a surprise to me because inflation spikes historically have had similar kinds of effects in injecting turbulence into labour relations.”

The British Columbia General Employees’ U

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