Contract ratified: 85 per cent vote in favour of accepting new contract for BC's nurses

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:

• addressing the shortcomings of the Pharmacare tie-in which reduced drug coverage for nurses
• wage increases
• maintaining benefits
• recognizing the full scope of practice for RPNs
• expanding the definition of "family"
• addressing violence prevention
• addressing workload through on-call language
• addressing LTD coverage