There will be jubilation and relief in the workers’ ranks with a tentative deal to end the B.C. General Employees’ Union strike against the provincial government.

It took eight weeks of picketing, but the government’s offer was substantially boosted.

They’ll get at least a 12 per cent raise over the next four years, coming off an earlier three-year deal that, on average, boosted wages 14 per cent.

But elsewhere, probably at a small private service, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey will bid a quiet goodbye to the modest little “expenditure management” project she tried to start earlier this year.

The settlement reached Sunday morning will eat every nickel of the savings she is trying to extract in order to dampen down B.C.’s deficits.

The rule of thumb in costing civil-service wage hikes is that every one per cent increase costs the treasury just over $500 million.

The tentative agreement is for three per cent hikes each year for four years.

So the deal will cost $1.5 billion in the first year. It will cost........

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