NBA Bargaining Update: Appendix U.1, Job Action Preparation, and Employer Responses
Appendix U.1 and the Vince Ready deadline
Last Friday, January 30, marked the deadline set out in Labour Arbitrator Vince Ready’s interim order. That order required the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) and health employers to agree on a date by which one of the two Appendix U.1 benefit options would be selected and implemented.
The NBA has refused to agree to a date and continues to assert that decisions affecting nurses’ benefits should be negotiated and must reflect the will of nurses.
As a result, the NBA and health employers will now make submissions to Arbitrator Ready, who will determine the date himself. At this time, a date for submissions has not been set.
It is important to note that while the issue is with the arbitrator, members’ current benefits remain unchanged.
The NBA remains steadfast in its position. Decisions affecting nurses’ benefits belong at the bargaining table. Benefits are a core retention and recruitment issue — especially at a time when unsafe workloads, workplace violence, and injury rates continue to push nurses out of the profession.
The NBA provincial bargaining committee remains united in protecting the benefits nurses rely on to stay healthy and remain in the public system.
At The Table: Employer Responses Fall Short
The bargaining committee met with health employer representatives this week and started to receive responses to the more than 100 proposals the committee has brought forward since bargaining began.
Drawing on concerns nurses have raised consistently across the province, the committee advanced proposals and continued to focus on the top five priorities anchoring this round of bargaining: benefits, wages, retention bonus, overtime at double time, and ratio compliance.
NBA lead negotiator Jim Gould’s message was clear: “we’re seeking enforceable changes this round,” he said. “We’ve seen what happens when issues are addressed with processes. The wheels go round and round and round — and nothing changes.” The message to health employers was clear: nurses need action, not further delays
Job Action Planning and Preparation
As bargaining continues across the health care sector, it is important that members are prepared for the possibility of job action by other unions that could impact NBA members.
- November 27, 2025: Community Bargaining Association (CBA) members voted 92.3 percent in favour of job action.
- December 18, 2025: Health Sciences Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) voted 90.1 percent in favour of job action.
- Ambulance Paramedics of BC (APBC) will hold their strike vote beginning February 2.
If another union’s strike action is announced at a worksite, NBA members will support those workers in solidarity at the picket line while maintaining essential service levels.
The goal of job action is always to maximize the impact on the employer while minimizing the impact on the delivery of safe patient care, as well as the financial impact on members.
Nevertheless, it's wise to be prepared. Members should consider the ways in which job action may impact their personal finances to curb unnecessary stress and protect their wellbeing.
The most important thing that you and your colleagues can do today to ensure you are ready for potential job action is to ensure your contact information with your union is up to date, either by using HSA's member contact update form or by sending an email to info@hsabc.org.
Stay Updated
The next meeting between the NBA provincial bargaining committee and health employer representatives is scheduled for February 10–11, where the committee expects to receive additional responses to proposals already brought forward.