Health science professionals will soon have greater control over their benefits thanks to a new joint benefits trust. The trustees will become part of an innovative and progressive approach that gives them the flexibility to design a benefit structure that aligns with members' needs. It is fitting that health science professionals were first to sign onto this initiative, given how central innovation is in their day to day practice.

We're happy to announce that on April 1, 2016, the first of three compensation comparability wage increases for Community Social Services (CSS) workers will take effect. This 2.5% increase, combined with the Economic Stability Dividend of .45% will result in an increase for all members covered by the Community Living Services and General Services collective agreements.

HSA, on behalf of the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA), has now concluded negotiations for a labour adjustment plan with PHSA . This labour adjustment plan will address the implementation of the PHSA laboratory technical leadership redesign in the most supportive and respectful manner for our laboratory technologists.

Lab stewards and members have done an exemplary job at articulating concerns about the employer's redesign plan. It has resulted in no net loss of positions.

Starting with the first pay period after February 1, 2016, most HSA members can expect a pay hike of 0.45% over and above the 5.5% increase rolling out over the life of the current contract.

This increase is the result of the Economic Stability Dividend, a feature of the current agreement which requires the government to increase negotiated wages as a portion of provincial economic growth when it exceeds official forecasts.

The 2014-2019 HSPBA collective agreement includes provisions committing the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and Health Employers' Association of BC (HEABC) to establish the Joint Health Science Benefits Trust (JHSBT) for provision of health and welfare benefits. The JHSBT will be governed by a Board of Trustees with an equal number of trustees appointed by HSPBA and HEABC, and members of the HSPBA Working Group have now been selected to act as interim trustees.

The Working Group members and interim trustees are:

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2015

BY DENNIS BLATCHFORD
HSA PENSIONS AND BENEFITS ADVOCATE

Q: I understand there was a presentation on the new health and welfare trust at the recent HSA annual convention. What were the highlights?

With the assistance of mediator Vince Ready, CUPE 873-03 and SN Transport have agreed to terms for a tentative agreement.

Details of the first collective agreement for the local, reached last night after one session of mediated talks that began yesterday, will be disclosed to members at a ratification meeting scheduled for Tuesday (June 16).

VANCOUVER – CUPE 873-03 served 72-hour strike notice to SN Transport yesterday after attempts to reach a first collective agreement failed. The union represents 115 workers who provide patient transfer services in the Lower Mainland. “From the moment this group of workers joined CUPE and we started bargaining their first agreement, the employer has resisted and used foot dragging tactics,” said CUPE National Representative John Strohmaier. “No-one likes to go on strike, but this employer has done nothing to reach a fair first collective agreement but put up obstacles.”

In February, Provincial Health Services Authority served Section 54 notice informing the Health Sciences Professional Bargaining Association that it intended to introduce a change to Lower Mainland pathology and laboratory services. This change would affect the terms, conditions or security of employment of a significant number of health science professional bargaining unit employees.
 
Over the past four months HSPBA and PHSA have met to discuss PHSA's proposed job descriptions and classifications associated with its service delivery design.

This is an update for all BC Cancer Agency members with outstanding 37.5 hour work week grievances, and follows up on the bulletin we sent out to you on February 10.

In February we told you that the employer was prepared to negotiate a resolution to the outstanding 37.5 hour grievances at the BC Cancer Agency, and that we were working towards a prototype resolution at the Fraser Valley Cancer Centre. We were hopeful that discussions would result in resolutions for many of the outstanding grievances.