Negotiations for new contract have begun

Negotiations to determine the pay, benefits and protections for your next contract have begun. The Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) bargaining committee, led by HSA, met with the employer for initial discussions on March 6.  
  
THE NEGOTIATING TEAM 
  
The bargaining committee team includes professional negotiators, board directors, and members elected by their colleagues to represent them in the talks.   
  
Negotiations will be guided by input from the union membership through over 1300 specific bargaining proposals submitted by members last fall, and prioritized by elected delegates attending the November bargaining proposals conference. Delegates to the November 2024 bargaining proposal conference also elected colleagues to represent the membership at the negotiating table. Members elected to the negotiating committee are:

• Doug Herasymuik (Affiliated Employers)
• Jason Tan (Fraser Health Authority)
• Tiger Ye (Interior Health)
• Kyle Collins (Island Health)
• Mandi Ayers (Northern Health Care)
• Kirn Sanghera (Providence Health Care)
• Keiran Shoker (Provincial Health Services Authority)
• Gita Joshi (Vancouver Coastal)  

 
The negotiating committee is co-chaired by members of the Board of Directors:

• Brooke Carter (Region 2)
• Jing-Yi Ng (Region 3)  

Jeanne Meyers is HSA staff lead on negotiations, with Norah Miner as second staff lead. 
 
Representatives from other unions with members covered by the HSPBA collective agreement also sit on the bargaining committee. Those unions include BC General Employees Union (BCGEU), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU), and Professional Employees Association (PEA).   
  
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 
   
The current contract expires March 31, and its provisions will be in force until a new contract is negotiated and ratified in a vote that will include all members.    
   
For more information about how bargaining works, talk to your steward, or visit the HSPBA bargaining updates page at Health Sciences Association | HSPBA Bargaining, where you can view an HSA video on the bargaining process.    
   
HSA will be reporting to members on the progress of negotiations in the coming weeks and months. These updates will be provided by email, so it’s important to keep your contact information up to date. To check to see if HSA has your current information, visit the Member Contact Update Form, and please encourage your colleagues to do the same.   
   
ESSENTIAL SERVICE WORK NEARLY COMPLETE  
   
Negotiations with employers are in full swing for setting essential services levels across health care, as required by law. This work is being done by HSA’s labour relations officers and your local stewards.   
   
British Columbia’s essential services legislation creates a balance between workers’ rights to strike, and the need to protect the public from “immediate and serious danger."  While bargaining can proceed, essential service levels must be established before any form of job action can be undertaken.   
   
When essential service levels are in place, the employers’ human resources are reduced, placing pressure on the employer to get back to the bargaining table. A balance is thereby struck, which prevents the chaos of a total withdrawal of service in the health care system, but allows meaningful collective bargaining to take place.