British Columbia jails have been added to the growing list of sites behind picket lines as public service workers escalate job action. 

The BC General Employees' Union said in a statement Friday that all its remaining unionized staff at adult correctional facilities across the province are now on strike.

The union said the escalation brings the total number of work sites behind pickets to more than 470, with about 25,000 workers taking strike action across 20 ministries, Crown corporations and agencies.

Union president Paul Finch said the escalation is due to the government's "lack of urgency" in coming to the table with a better contract offer. 

B.C. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said Friday in response that the BCGEU pickets are causing "no disruption to the core services of the correction centres."

Speaking at an unrelated press conference, Krieger said corrections officers are classified as essential services, and the province's correction centres "are staffed as needed during this time."

Her ministry said in a statement that in-community monitoring services, such as electronic supervision of individuals, also remain in place.

"We are aware of the BCGEU’s recent advisory and can assure the public that essential staffing levels are in place to support the safe and secure operation of all 10 provincial correctional centres," a ministry statement said.

The statement said "discretionary programming and other supports and services" at the facilities could be limited while they are operating at essential-service levels. 

The strike is in its sixth week, but job action ramped up quickly in the last week, with a march in Vancouver last Friday and a rally at the legislature on Monday as politicians returned for the fall session.

The government has said its last proposal to the union was fair in balancing workers' needs and B.C.'s constrained fiscal position.

The Professional Employees Association, which represents B.C. government workers such as engineers, foresters and geoscientists, has also escalated its job action this week to include more than 1,000 staff from various ministries.

The PEA said that its last contract offer from the government was for a general wage increase of 3.5 per cent over two years. The union said its request was for 8.25 per cent over two years. 

Those participating in job action include environmental protection officers, groundwater hydrologists, litigation lawyers and mines inspectors.

The union noted examples of essential workers who would never be on strike include hydrologists with B.C.'s River Forecast Centre and child and youth psychologists with the Ministry of Children and Family Development.