2000: News Archive

Joint news release from HEU, BCNU, BCGEU and HSAHealth care workers and other medicare advocates in B.C. joined thousands of demonstrators across Canada today to demand immediate action by Ottawa to stop privatization of medicare.-We are on the brink of Canadas biggest medical emergency ever," Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, warned a huge crowd outside the...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 What are appropriate rules for the workplace? My employer wants to impose new rules that seem unreasonable to me. Are we required to comply? Canadian workers live every day with a variety of workplace rules that may dictate everything from their hair length to their footwear. In labour law, the employers power...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI When the management of Magnolia House announced last year that they would be closing the North Vancouver facility, the employees - including twelve HSA members - thought they would be losing their jobs. In fact, they were issued lay-off notices in April, and many workers had already started the...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 Downtown Blanshard Advisory CommitteeWelcome! to 51 new members at the Downtown Blanshard Advisory Committee, a Community Social Services facility. Our new members work at nine sites in Victoria, and offer various family and community service programs. They work as youth and family counsellors, after school care workers, administrative assistants, outreach workers, child...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by CINDY STEWART All eyes are on Alberta and the impact of Bill 11, the controversial health care legislation that passed third reading on May 11. I was attending the HSA Alberta Annual Convention the day following the Bills final reading and had the opportunity to hear directly from those who are...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI While on a three-month fact-finding mission several years ago, GF Strong Physiotherapist Ian Denison realized that it is difficult for most therapists to keep up to date on various equipment options for their patients. "It was very evident that clinicians working in the community, and even in the smaller...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI HSA is fighting to stop proposed layoffs at GF Strongs Prosthetics and Orthotics Services Lab. The Prosthetics and Orthotics Service provides a comprehensive program where medical specialists, orthotists, prosthetists, technicians, and physical and occupational therapists work together to provide the client with the device that will give the best...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by RACHEL NOTLEY and YUKIE KURAHASHI There may be light at the end of the occupational injury tunnel for ultrasound technologists. A recent study found that 91 per cent experience pain or discomfort at some point during their sonography career. However, HSA has been working to expose the extent of the incidence...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI It might start with a sore throat, watery eyes, nausea, and headaches that develop while youre at work and subside when you get home. The symptoms might progress to constant fatigue, rashes, anaemia, and gastrointestinal problems. A few sufferers may develop debilitating symptoms when exposed to car exhaust, smoke...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 Typically, when a dispute arises in the workplace, HSAs stewards are able to resolve the issue, either through discussion or through filing a grievance. Sometimes, in the case of a particularly difficult situation or one that involves regional issues, the steward consults a labour relations officer, who then works with the steward...