Health Science Professionals

THE REPORT: JULY 2013 Jade Shultis didn't have to work too hard to find her career path. As a kid, she was fascinated by medical dramas on TV. "My parents thought I was a bit crazy – an 11-year-old watching Trauma: Life in the E.R.," she says with a laugh. By the time she graduated from high school, Shultis knew...

Health Science Professional members of HSA are reminded that changes to extended health benefits coverage took effect on June 1st with the implementation of PharmaCare Tie-In. As part of these changes, all HSP members should by now have received a BlueNet card. The BlueNet card direct-pay of eligible prescriptions when picking them up at the pharmacy instead of paying up...

Under the terms of the new collective agreement, a further wage increase of 1 per cent for all members, excluding pharmacists, is effective the first pay period after April 1, 2013, which is the pay period of April 12 to April 25, 2013. Members are encouraged to check their pay stubs to ensure the increases are applied effective April 12...

To realize wage gains won through bargaining, health professionals are moving to a 37.5 hour workweek. In bargaining, the employers agreed to a cooperative, consultative process when implementing the 37.5 hour workweek. In this process, staff, supervisors and managers will consult in each department, section or work unit that has a current schedule with extended workdays (i.e. workdays of more...

On April 28, workers and their families are invited to pay tribute to those who have been injured or killed on the job, or stricken with occupational disease. Every day in Canada, three workers are killed on the job and 685 workers suffer work-related injuries or occupational diseases. Last year in British Columbia, 181 workers died as a result of...

More than 300 HSA union activists welcomed delegates from new certification: Whistler Health Centre. "Welcome to the family!" Delegates to HSA’s 42nd annual convention this weekend re-elected Reid Johnson as president, and debated resolutions that continue building the founding principles of the union. In his report to delegates, President Reid Johnson called on activists to continue their determined efforts to...

To follow HSA Convention news as it happens, visit our Facebook page Members of the Health Sciences Association, the union delivering modern health care that represents health sciences professionals who deliver diagnosis, treatment and recovery in BCs hospitals and communities, is meeting this weekend at its 42nd annual convention in Vancouver. Over the course of the next two days members...

The spirit of the negotiated agreement surrounding the change from a 36-hour to a 37.5-hour work week was confirmed this week as the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) reached agreement on a process to implement the 37.5 hour work week agreed to in the recently ratified collective agreement. "While at least one...

Following a consultation process that can only be described as a sham, BC Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid – on the day before the current government dissolves – announced today the enactment of legislation that dramatically changes the structure of collective bargaining in health care, HSA President Reid Johnson said today. “On her last day on the job, Health Minister Margaret...

THE REPORT: APRIL 2013 Medical Laboratory technologists at (PHSA) Whistler Health Care Centre joined HSA on February 27. The employees approached HSA about becoming members of the union and the decision to join was unanimous. This new chapter is a first – no other employees of Whistler Health Care Centre are unionized. "The Whistler Health Care Centre laboratory has evolved...