FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: 2024 HSA Annual Regional Meetings and Bargaining Proposal Conferences

HSA is divided into 10 geographic regions. Every member belongs to a worksite-based chapter, and chapters are assigned to a region. The Regional Meeting is an annual meeting held in the fall, bringing together members from throughout the region. The regional meeting is an opportunity for attendees to receive updates on the work of the union. There will be reports from the President, the Regional Director, who represents members of the region on the board of directors, and staff. Updates and information is also shared by lead stewards from worksites around the region, as well as union activists: Members-At-Large, Constituency Liaisons and Labour Council Delegates.

This year, delegates to the Regional Meetings who are covered by the HSPBA collective agreement will also elect delegates to the HSA HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference.

Lead stewards are automatic delegates to your region’s Regional Meeting.  If your chapter has more than 49 members, then additional members can be elected as delegates to attend. Chapters hold local meetings to elect delegates to attend and participate in the Regional Meeting. Contact your local lead steward for information about a local meeting to elect delegates. 

You can find your lead steward's contact information on the HSA website here: https://hsabc.org/find-your-steward

The HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference (BPC) is a three and a half day meeting scheduled for November 5 to 8 in the Lower Mainland.  At this conference, all bargaining proposals submitted by chapters across the province will be discussed and prioritized by the delegates to this conference. In addition to setting the bargaining priorities, delegates to this conference elect HSA members to serve on the Bargaining Committee, which participates in face-to-face negotiations with the employer.

If you would like to attend the HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference, please write a brief statement (limit 250 words) and send it by email to @email. Members attending your regional meeting will receive all candidates’ statements and will vote for the candidates they wish to send to the Bargaining Proposal Conference.  The number of delegates to the Bargaining Proposal Conference varies based on the number of members in the region.

You do not have to attend your Regional Meeting to submit your name for election as a delegate to the Bargaining Proposal Conference. Nominations will be accepted in writing, and in person at the meeting. Only delegates at the Regional Meeting vote on electing delegates to the HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference.
 

An HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference Delegate attends the Bargaining Proposal Conference November 5-8 to review and disusss all HSPBA Bargaining Proposals received from chapters across the province. They also set the prioritities for bargaining and vote to elect the members of the Bargaining Committee as part of the business of the Bargaining Proposal Conference.

The HSPBA Bargaining Committee is composed of two members of the union’s Board of Directors, and members who are employees of each Health Authority, along with a delegate to represent members working for affiliate employers.  Along with the Lead Negotiator and other staff, the committee negotiates the next contract with the employer. The union bargaining committee is guided by the bargaining proposals and priorities set members at the Bargaining Proposal Conference.

The members at the Bargaining Proposal Conference will elect the bargaining committee. You do not have to be a delegate to the Bargaining Proposal Conference to run for the bargaining committee, however it is strongly recommended that members who wish to serve on the Bargaining Committee attend the Bargaining Proposal Conference as a delegate, as the discussion and deliberations at the Bargaining Proposal Conference are valuable information that informs the bargaining committee about the issues and priorities HSA members want their representatives in negotiations to focus on.

Any member may submit a nomination in writing to @email. All nominations will be circulated to Bargaining Proposal Conference delegates responsible for electing HSA members to the Bargaining Committee. In order to be nominated, submit a written statement (maximum 300 words) to @email. Deadline for written nominations is 5 p.m., Monday, October 28.

In addition to the HSPBA Bargaining Proposal Conference, HSA is holding a Bargaining Proposal Conference for members covered by the Community Social Services, Community Health, and Nurses collective agreements. Negotiations for those contracts are not led by HSA, but by the union with the most members covered by the collective agreement. However, HSA has representation on the bargaining committee to ensure that HSA members’ interests are well represented in contract negotiations.

A joint Bargaining Proposal Conference for members covered by these collective agreements will be held October 28-30, 2024. Delegates to this Bargaining Proposal Conference will elect member representatives to serve on the Bargaining Committees. 

Any member covered by one of these collective agreements can run to represent HSA members on the Community Social Services, Community Health, or Nurses’ bargaining committee. If you would like to run to serve as a member of the negotiating committee for the contract you work under, submit a nomination statement of up to 250 words to @email by 5 p.m. October 21, 2024.

The Regional Meetings are open for participation by delegates of members from every HSA worksite, including private sector employers. 

The bargaining cycle does not line up with the public sector contract negotiations, so there is no need for a Bargaining Proposal Conference for members working for private sector employers at this time.

All delegates must register to attend the conference, and the deadline for this is October 3. This is a firm deadline and we are unable to accommodate late registration. 

You can register through HSA’s event management system.

Any member can stand for election to be part of the bargaining committee for their collective agreement. If you’d like to run, you must submit a written nomination statement (maximum 250 words) to info@hsabc.org. All nominations will be circulated to bargaining proposal conference delegates responsible for electing members to the bargaining committee. 

The deadline for written nominations is 5 pm, Monday, October 21. Members do not have to be a delegate to the bargaining proposal conference to put their name forward for election as a member of the bargaining committee.

Attend your local chapter’s bargaining proposals meeting. After it is discussed, members at the meeting will vote on the proposals, and proposals that are supported will be forwarded for discussion at the Bargaining Proposal Conference.

Individual proposals are not accepted. All proposals must be voted on and supported by members at local HSA chapter meetings before being forwarded to the union office for discussion at the Bargaining Proposal Conference.

If there are no HSA stewards at your worksite, contact the HSA office at @email for support to organize a membership meeting at your worksite to discuss and vote on bargaining proposals.

HSPBA: October 11, 2024

CSS/NBA/CBA: October 4, 2024

In addition to the chapter meetings for bargaining proposals, HSA conducts member surveys to inform delegates to the Bargaining Proposals Conferences about members’ priorities for bargaining. The surveys are conducted annually, with the most recent fielded in May 2024.

The Joint Health Science Benefits trust (JHSBT) was established April 1, 2017 to provide employee benefits to members of the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and their dependents.  The Trust receives negotiated funding from employers and some contributions from employees, which it holds in the Trust fund for the purpose of providing group health and insurance benefits to eligible employees, their eligible dependents and beneficiaries. This change removed the provision and structure of health and welfare benefits from the HSPBA collective agreement.

The only area of negotiation through HSPBA collective agreement bargaining is related the level of funding to cover the health and welfare benefits provided by the Trust. (i.e., does more funding need to be negotiated to cover the cost of providing health and welfare benefits)

Any proposals related to health and welfare benefits submitted to the November Bargaining Proposal Conference will not be considered to take forward to HSPBA contract negotiations, but will be forwarded to the JHSBT Trustees for consideration. 

HSPBA has representatives on the joint Trust whose responsibility it is to represent the interests of members.

Stewards were sent an email bulletin with instructions for submitting bargaining proposals.