Contracts and Bargaining
WORKING FOR YOU
HSA's highly-qualified and experienced staff includes labour relations officers, negotiators, lawyers, classification, pension and benefit specialists, organizers, occupational health and safety specialists, and a department dedicated to communications, research and member education. Our staff negotiate collective agreements, handle classifications issues and grievances and – if necessary – defend members' rights in courts, arbitrations and other legal tribunals.
Many of HSA's labour relations staff have worked as HSA members in the health care or social services fields. Our staff understand the work you do and the challenges you face.
Negotiating and administering HSA's collective agreements are the core functions of HSA's labour relations department, which is responsible for assisting more than 20,000 HSA members who work under several different collective agreements:
- Health science professionals
- Nurses
- Community health services and support
- Community social services
- Paragon Orthotics (private sector)
- West Coast Medical Imaging (private sector)
If you're not sure which agreement covers you, contact us.
The executive director of legal services and labour relations is the lead negotiator for the health science professionals bargaining association (HSPBA) which negotiates on behalf of approximately 90 per cent of HSA's membership. Labour relations staff also represent members in the nurses', community health, and community social services bargaining associations, as well as individual collective agreements outside of the public sector.
Labour relations officers (LROs) work directly with stewards and members. LROs administer the collective agreements and address workplace issues ranging from disciplinary matters to negotiating local agreements.
To ensure that stewards and members have quick access to labour relations support, the department includes an intake labour relations officer who is available to respond to general labour relations inquiries including those related to contract interpretation and grievance filing. On-going support to stewards and members is provided by an experienced team of labour relations officers who are assigned to specific facilities.