2018: News Archive

GETTING CREATIVE WITH OH&S EDUCATION S AFETY SCENARIOS, DRAWS, AND JARS By Kiren Klair and Kristen Honeybourne The Report, December 2018 As Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) stewards at Inclusion Langley Society, we have taken on the challenge of developing some fun approaches to promoting OH&S at our worksite. While the impacts of OH&S awareness often go unseen, our educational...

THE RIGHT TO STRIKE: POSTAL WORKERS LEGISLATED BACK TO WORK, CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE LAUNCHED The Report, December 2018 In a disturbing turn of events, Bill C-89 was passed on Nov. 26 in the Canadian Senate, forcing postal workers to return to work after five weeks of rotating strikes. The emergency bill was rushed through the House of Commons the week earlier...

HEALTH SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS BARGAINING ASSOCIATION REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT The Report, December 2018 After two and a half months of bargaining, the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSBA), under the leadership of the Health Sciences Association, has reached a tentative agreement with the Health Employers Association of B.C. (HEABC). “Through two and a half months of bargaining, both the union and...

ADDRESSING YEARS OF EROSION By HSA President Val Avery The Report, December 2018 I am pleased to report that a tentative agreement has been reached between the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and the Health Employers’ Association of British Columbia for the term of April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022. I’m proud of our bargaining team and their...

PROVIDING GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE Improving access to health services for trans and gender diverse communities The Report, Dec. 2018 Trans people have been historically underserved by the province’s health system, according to HSA member Lucas Wilson, who works as a health navigator for Trans Care B.C. There are numerous barriers that trans people and gender diverse communities face when accessing health...

Community-based voting on the proposed health science professionals tentative agreement gets underway on Monday, January 7, with information meetings and voting kicking off in Vancouver at the Holiday Inn on West Broadway. The first week of meetings will be for members in Vancouver, Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Victoria, and White Rock. Members may vote at any of the...

The Nurses Bargaining Association reached a tentative agreement with HEABC on November 25, 2018. The term of the agreement is April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022. HSA was represented at the bargaining table by staff negotiator Alyson Warner and member representative Nicole McIntosh, an RPN at St. Paul’s Hospital. They report that they had opportunities for input and relations...

HSA’s 2019 annual convention will include an election for the position of president. The two-year term begins at the adjournment of the 2019 convention, set for April 4 and 5, 2019 in Vancouver. The president is HSA’s senior elected officer, and acts as the CEO of the union, overseeing the union’s day to day operations, including staffing and budget management...

HSA Social justice day workshop DATE: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 TIME: 8:30am – 4:00pm PLACE: HSA Head Office - 180 East Columbia St. New Westminster, BC This Social Justice workshop will focus on two areas – Disability Rights and Transgender Rights. Part one: Workers With Disability and Ability This course is designed to explore myths, mistaken beliefs and assumptions regarding...

In addition to a general wage increase for all members, this tentative agreement addresses issues that health science professionals have struggled with for the past two decades: valuing the important contributions of each and every member of the health care team, unsustainable workloads, chronic shortages and vacancies of critical members of the health care team, and a dysfunctional system of...