Tentative agreement reached for Health Science Professionals
November 9, 2018
After almost 10 weeks of bargaining, a three-year tentative agreement has been reached between the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC).
Highlights of the proposed April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022 agreement include a general wage increase of six per cent over three years for all health science professionals, and a number of improvements to address workload, appropriate compensation and job classification, recruitment and retention, and occupational health, safety and violence prevention issues.
Led by the Health Sciences Association of BC (HSA), which represents the majority of health science professionals in BC, the union negotiating committee focused on achieving a collective agreement that addressed years of erosion in the health care system.
“Our bargaining team set out to address the issues that our members have struggled with for the past two decades: unsustainable workloads; chronic shortages and vacancies of critical members of the health care team; a dysfunctional system of addressing increasing challenges in health and safety and work; and valuing the important contributions of each and every member of the health care team,” said HSA President Val Avery.
“For the past two and a half months, both the union and employer bargaining committees worked hard to negotiate collective agreement solutions to address years of erosion in the system that affected our members’ ability to provide the care that British Columbians expect and deserve,” said HSPBA’s chief negotiator Jeanne Meyers.
“It has been a long time since we’ve had a bargaining team on the other side of the table that had the ability and mandate to work creatively to get the root of the challenges and negotiate for improvements to the system. We have landed on a tentative agreement that we are confident will result in improved delivery of health care services in hospitals and communities across the province,” Meyers said.
The tentative agreement covers more than 19,000 health science professionals who deliver health care services in BC hospitals and communities.
A majority of health science professionals are represented by the Health Sciences Association of BC. Other unions in the HSPBA are the BC Government and Service Employees Union, Professional Employees Association, Canadian Union of Public Employees and Hospital Employees' Union.
The HSPBA bargaining committee agreed unanimously to accept the tentative agreement. Each of the member unions will consider the recommendation of the bargaining committee as they prepare to take the agreement to a vote by members covered by the contract.
Details of the agreement will be made available in the coming weeks, and members will have an opportunity to vote on the terms of the tentative agreement in January 2019.
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For information:
Miriam Sobrino
c. 604 328 2886
e. @email