The Report

HSA REPORT, DECEMBER 2013 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN By any standards, Edith MacHattie's job is immensely challenging. The school-aged children she works with as an Occupational Therapist at Surrey's Centre for Child Development are the most medically complex kids. "We focus on the most compromised. These are not just kids having trouble with handwriting," she says. "Most are in wheelchairs, some...

HSA REPORT, DECEMBER 2013 In late November, the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association reached a tentative agreement for the 17,000 health science professionals delivering modern health care in BC's hospitals and communities. It is a five-year agreement that expires March 31, 2019. The agreement was reached in advance of the expiry of the current agreement, set to run out on...

THE REPORT: OCTOBER 2013 BY DAVID DURNINGOCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY OFFICER WorkSafeBC has ruled that posters and hard copies of first aid information must be properly posted and readily available to workers throughout FHA work locations. BACKGROUND Last fall, WorkSafeBC advised the Fraser Health Authority they were in violation of Section 3.17 (2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation...

THE REPORT: OCTOBER 2013 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN Ultrasound technologist Adesh Kahlon knew early on what career path she wanted. And when she got into that career, she knew, with equal clarity, that she wanted to be in a unionized workplace. So when CML Health Care, the private facility in Surrey she’s worked at since 2002, was contemplating joining HSA, she...

Melissa Eden used her HSA bursary to complete a Bachelor and Science in Psychology THE REPORT: JULY 2013 " I completed my Bachelor of Science in Psychology last week and am now entering the work force. Thank you for your support it was appreciated and will be put to good use, :)" Melissa Eden is one of HSA's 2013 bursary...

THE REPORT: JULY 2013 Major corporations and their political allies in Canada are pushing for the type of "Right to Work" laws found in most of the poorest states in the US. Such laws make it harder for workers to form a union. They also allow workers in a unionized workplace to opt out of paying dues, while still being...

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...

THE REPORT: JULY 2013 November 1 is the day new workplace rules regarding harassment and bullying come into effect in British Columbia. This is the second part of a change in workers' compensation legislation brought about with the introduction of Bill 14 in 2011. The first change dealt with the issue of compensation for mental disorders. Since July 1, 2012...

THE REPORT: JULY 2013 Diligent work by an HSA steward has resulted in a cheque for several hundred dollars for at least one member. is someone you work with next? Val Barker, chief steward for Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, discovered some of the RPNs working there were paying dues to BCNU – not HSA. Barker first realized that...

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...