HSPBA Members: Enough is enough — time to send a strong message to the government

Your bargaining committee and the HSA Board of Directors have determined that an official strike vote will be taken December 4 - 17. All members belonging to the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association will be eligible to participate in the vote, which will be held online.

The decision to hold an official strike vote comes after weeks of in-person and online meetings with members in communities around BC, and an informal survey in which 82% of members indicated their support for voting to strike.

The strike vote is necessary because the employer has to date refused to offer the monetary package being provided to other unions. Specifically, while other unions have been offered significant funding to tackle recruitment and retention, health science professionals have been offered much less — approximately $100 million less — even as workload and burnout are so severe that 1 in 3 health science professionals are thinking of quitting.

To quote from the BC government’s own November 13 news release: “As is the case with the framework agreement reached with the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA), the BCGEU Main Agreement in the Public Service includes additional increases that are over and above what will be made available to the rest of the public sector as part of the 2025 Balanced Measures Mandate.”

Without the funding being offered to these other unions, it will be impossible for HSA to deal with the priorities identified by members: fixing the classifications system, protecting benefits, ensuring fair premiums, and investing in retention of burnt-out staff.

This unequal treatment is not just unfair, it is disrespectful of the importance of frontline health care professionals, and it would contribute to further deterioration in the health care system that our communities and our economy depend upon.

The HSA Board of Directors and your elected bargaining committee recommends all members vote YES to send a strong message to the employer that we will not be treated as second-class citizens.

How the Strike Vote Will Work

The strike vote will be held online from 12 noon (Pacific time) on Thursday, December 4 to 12 noon (Pacific time) on Wednesday, December 17. All members will be sent voting credentials via email on the day the voting begins. The email with your voting credentials will come from Simply Voting, not HSA.

You will not be able to vote if you have not provided the union with a personal email address. Click here to find out if the union has your email address, or update it if it has changed.

More information will be provided as we approach the opening of the vote.

Learn More About the Situation and the Coming Strike Vote

All members are invited to join province-wide telephone town halls next week, December 1 - 3. You’ll hear presentations from the negotiations team and have a chance to ask questions. The times are as follows:

• Monday, December 1 at 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm (Pacific time)
• Tuesday, December 2 at 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm (Pacific time)
• Wednesday, December 3 at 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm (Pacific time)

More Resources

• If you’ve got questions about job action, we have added new FAQs to the website – and are constantly adding more.
• HSA President Sarah Kooner is tackling some of the most common member questions about bargaining in a new series of short video FAQs.