HSPBA Bargaining Update: Negotiations Suspended

Job action planning now underway

The bargaining committee for the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association has suspended contract negotiations following three days of talks at which no significant progress was made.

The committee is prepared to return to negotiations once the employer is ready to engage in serious discussions on key priorities. Until that happens, the committee sees no value in continuing to meet.

Local chapter job action committee training has already begun. In the coming weeks, members at worksites around the province will work with each other to prepare local plans for potential action should talks remain suspended. Please speak with your lead steward if you want to be a job action committee member and/or a department contact for your local committee.

After ten months of negotiations, the employer continues to refuse to offer health science professionals the full monetary package being provided to other public sector workers in BC. Last month, HSPBA members across five unions gave the bargaining committee an overwhelming mandate to take job action in support of a contract that fixes the problems that are eroding public health care in BC: unreasonable workload, chronic shortages, and growing wait times.

The bargaining committee is disappointed in this lack of progress, frustrated with unfair treatment of front line health science professionals, and concerned with how this contributes to further deterioration of the health care system upon which our communities and our economy depend. The committee is hopeful that the employer can make job action unnecessary by engaging in respectful negotiations.

What's Next

• Job action committee training sessions are being held January 19, January 20, and January 23. If you are interested in joining your local job action committee, please connect with your lead steward right away. Further information will be provided to established local job action committees and department contacts to help prepare for potential job action at your site. 
   
• While we are working to get ready for potential job action, members from all professions can play an important role in raising our concerns directly with elected members of the provincial government and opposition MLAs. Stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved in this shortly.

• You can find a Bargaining FAQ and a Job Action FAQ on the HSA website. Have a question that isn't answered? Reach out to us at info@hsabc.org.
   
• HSA President Sarah Kooner recorded a series of short videos about bargaining and job action last month. You can watch them here.