ICBC's union, COPE 378, has issued 72-hour job action notice for next week.
The members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 378 - which is based in Burnaby - voted 87 per cent in favour of job action on April 24.
ICBC's unionized employees have the right to strike after June 30, according to an interim order from the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
"We'll be taking things slowly, starting with a ban on overtime on July 6," the union's vice-president, Jeff Gillies, said in a press release. "Future actions will be communicated at least 48 hours in advance and we're getting great feedback from members about what we can do that targets the government and ICBC, not drivers."
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia made an essential service application to the Labour Relations Board on April 19, suspending the union's ability to take action.
The board then handed down the interim order on June 13.
The union is allowed to issue an overtime ban until June 30, and can take job action with 48 hours' notice after that date, "if the job action does not dip below the essential service levels applied for by ICBC."
"This is a mixed blessing," Gilies said. "Our intent was never to put the driving public in the middle of our dispute with the government so the essential service levels - which we are still fighting at the Labour Board - won't hinder our ability to take strategic, targeted job action."
The order is in place until the board issues a final order after the essential service hearings are finished.
The main issues are wages, improved benefits, employees' workload, and job security, Gillies said in an interview in April.
Thus far, the Crown corporation has not offered the union anything, but is asking for a five-year collective agreement, he added.
The Crown corporation wants claims, insurance and driver licensing services declared essential during any potential job action.
"Members of the public will suffer irreparable harm without an essential services designation as strike action affects their safety, ability to receive income, disability payments, rehabilitation services and their eligibility to obtain and continue employment," the essential services application from ICBC stated. "Further, without an essential service designation, a strike would result in serious financial impact on a significant number of individuals and businesses within the province."
This is the first time ICBC has gone forward with an essential services application, according to Mark Jan Vrem, spokesperson for ICBC.
ICBC hopes the collective agreement can be settled without a strike, he said in April.
"We hopefully will be able to settle our differences at the negotiating table and proceed without job action, but that remains to be seen," he said.
Jan Vrem would not give specifics on what ICBC was putting on the table, saying that is something for the two sides to discuss.
The Labour Relations Board got the go ahead from the B.C. Minister of Labour to deal with the essential services application in April, according to Wayne Mullins, a Labour Relations Board information officer.
ICBC's collective agreement expired in 2010. The two parties have been in negotiations since January 2011.
