Premier David Eby has spent weeks telling British Columbians the province couldn’t pay striking government workers anything more than it had already offered. It wouldn’t be fair for taxpayers, or affordable for the government, he argued.

But that position appears to have pretty much collapsed over the weekend under the oversight of veteran mediator Vince Ready. A new tentative deal, inked well after midnight Sunday, is largely a capitulation by the B.C. NDP government and a major victory for the BC General Employees' Union.

After a record eight-week strike, the BCGEU got the NDP government to blink on pay, benefits and contract length. Instead of a 1.5 per cent wage increase this year, which was the government’s opening position, the BCGEU got three per cent. Instead of 3.5 per cent over two years, the BCGEU landed six per cent. Instead of a two-year contract, the BCGEU got four years.

The overall deal, at 12 per cent........

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