Opposition labour critic Raj Chouhan is confident that the constituency assistants of NDP MLAs will not be walking out on their jobs.

The representative of Burnaby-Edmonds also indicated that his caucus isn’t particularly concerned that the community-based employees, who run an MLA’s local office, are casting ballots for a strike vote after they rejected a tentative agreement.

“The fact that the process is proceeding this way is a testament to the integrity and the role of the collective-bargaining process in reaching a balance between the rights of the employees and employers,” Chouhan told the Straight by phone. “This is nothing unusual.”

Chouhan said that he and Cowichan Valley MLA Bill Routley are negotiating on behalf of the 35 sitting NDP MLAs, who each hire their own local staff. The workers are represented by the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union.

The labour critic related that of the constituency assistants employed by NDP MLAs, 25 voted in favour of an initial agreement drawn up by negotiators on both sides, while 34 voted against it and 24 abstained.

The rejected three-year deal provided for a two-percent wage increase in the first year and no pay raise in the remaining period. According to Chouhan, the proposed salary increase would have put the constituency assistants on the same pay scale as the NDP caucus employees, who work in Victoria. He said the average NDP constituency assistant gets $24 to $25 an hour.

BCGEU spokesperson Oliver Rohlfs told the Straight that the employees are “looking for some increase in compensation that reflects some of those that the elected officials that they work for have received, which we know is completely out of line with everybody else’s”.

In 2007, MLA base pay increased almost 30 percent, to $98,000 a year.

“I think they [NDP constituency assistants] found two percent over three years perhaps a bit insulting,” Rohlfs said.

The results of the strike vote will be tabulated on August 13. “The union has already indicated to their members that after they complete their process by August 13, they will be making an application for mediation,” Chouhan said.

Although Chouhan acknowledged that this is the first time constituency assistants are going to a strike vote, he said he is certain that the labour snag will eventually be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides.