Bargaining is underway for a new collective agreement between HSA and West Coast Medical Imaging (WCMI).

Union bargaining committee members Gary Finnerty and Fran Wagner from the Lower Mainland and Lee McKellar and Jenn Frost from Victoria, along with HSA staff negotiators Dani Demetlika and Gurleen Sahota and labour relations specialist Jessica Magalios, got underway at the end of April and resumed yesterday, with two days of bargaining scheduled for this week, and another two days scheduled at the beginning of June.

Nurses covered by the Nurses Bargaining Association (NBA) contract, including the 900 Registered Psychiatric Nurses represented by HSA, have voted 85 per cent in favour of accepting a new collective agreement.

The new agreement features wage increases for all nurses, some changes to benefits coverage, and a number of contract changes that address staffing issues, education, and violence in the workplace.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The tentative agreement achieves eight of the 11 priorities HSA's RPNs set for bargaining, including:

A summary of the tentative agreement 2014 – 2019 for the Nurses Bargaining Association, and instructions on how to vote on the agreement, will be mailed to all NBA members shortly.

Mail ballots must be returned to HSA by the end of the day on Friday, May 6.

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 jobs doing the same or similar work, and which have comparable benchmarks.

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.
　

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: