2016: News Archive

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 CHANGES TO BC LAW WILL REQUIRE MORE EMPLOYEES TO SUBMIT MANDATORY FINGERPRINTS The Criminal Records Review Act provides for mandatory fingerprinting for those employed by health authorities and who work with children or vulnerable adults. The program requires the employee to submit fingerprints to confirm identity if there is an applicant who has a match...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 A CANCER CLUSTER IS FOUND HSA members Katrina Hammer and Anne MacFarlane, and HEU member Patricia Schmidt, all worked in the laboratory at Mission Memorial Hospital. All three contracted breast cancer, and an investigation into the cancer identified there was a cancer cluster in the laboratory – where the incidence of breast cancer was eight...

Following last week’s signing of a tentative agreement for a renewed collective agreement for all nurses in BC’s public health care system, HSA will hold two telephone town hall meetings to provide members with information about the terms of the tentative agreement. All HSA RPNs are invited to join telephone town hall meetings set for tomorrow, Thursday, April 14, from...

The Health Sciences Association (HSA) and Professional Employees Association (PEA), the two unions that represent psychologists and psychometrists in BC's public health care system, welcome yesterday's Labour Relations Board (LRB) decision to deny a BC Nurses' Union (BCNU) application to further destabilize labour relations in BC's hospitals. The LRB dismissed BCNU's recent application to move some psychologists and psychometrists (testing...

The current Health Services and Support Community Subsector collective agreement gives approximately 80 per cent of the FTEs (full time equivalents) in the Community Subsector comparability increases of 1 per cent in April 2016, 0.5 per cent in April 2017 and 0.5 per cent in April 2018. These increases will narrow the gap between Community jobs and higher paid Facilities...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 BY DAVID DURNING, OHS OFFICER The Canadian Mental Health Association's annual Bottom Line Conference brings together workers, employers and researchers to find ways of improving mental health in Canadian workplaces. This year, HSA sponsored two members to attend the conference held recently in Vancouver. Charlotte Nanalal, a radiation therapist at the Fraser Valley Cancer Centre...

A tentative agreement was reached today between the Health Employers' Bargaining Association and the Nurses' Bargaining Association.HSA represents 1,000 Registered Psychiatric Nurses covered by the agreement. The current collective agreement expired March 31, 2014. The new agreement covers April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019.Highlights include modest wage increases of 5.5 per cent over five years, plus eligibility for an...

Members are advised that HSA anticipates active negotiations with West Coast Medical Imaging will get underway in April. HSA has proposed a number of dates for bargaining, and is working with the employer to finalize those dates.   Before contract talks begin, your bargaining committee will be meeting to finalize the union’s proposals. Your elected bargaining representatives are Lee McKellar...

Uncertainty for HSA members working in PHSA labs has come to an end after protracted and thorough negotiations on a workplace restructuring plan that protects staff and ensures continued quality of patient care. More than one year after PHSA served Section 54 notice related to an overhaul in the structure of Lower Mainland pathology and laboratory services, PHSA and HSPBA...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 Report on B.C. Federation of Labour Lobby in Victoria March 7 and 8, 2016 BY ANNE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, REGION 1 The BC Federation of Labour's annual government lobby day was scheduled for International Women's Day this year. So it was decided that it should be carried out by the Women's Rights Committee. Participants focused on...