Historic Tentative Agreement Reached Between NBA and HEABC

The Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) bargaining committee reached a tentative collective agreement with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) this evening.

The terms of settlement include record-setting compensation for BC’s nurses. The agreement comes after months of meetings between NBA negotiators and HEABC, bringing the collective voice of thousands of nurses to the bargaining table.

The NBA bargaining committee took the position that it would not accept a single concession from health employers during the contract negotiation process and is proud to have delivered on that promise.

NBA negotiators also reached a groundbreaking commitment from the provincial government to support mandatory nurse-patient ratios. The proposed contract has leveraged this commitment on ratios to secure additional funding to bolster the NBA contract language.

The proposed collective agreement contains many meaningful incentives that will help retain nurses today and attract the nurses needed for the future.

Highlights of the tentative agreement include:

• General wage increases (GWI) for all employees are now effective on the following dates:
  • April 1, 2022: $0.25 per hour and then 3.24 per cent
  • April 1, 2023: 6.75% (5.5% + 1.25% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
  • April 1, 2024: 2.0% + up to 1.0 percent COLA
     
• A wage schedule redesign with new increments at 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years
• Indigenous-specific anti-racism language
• A new premium for regular status employees of $2.15 per hour for all hours worked, except overtime
• Increases to shift premiums, on-call rates, responsibility pay and isolation allowance
• Expansion of voluntary shift exchanges and job share language to increase flexibility

Details about information meetings and the ratification process for HSA members will be available early next week.