News & Updates

HSA is offering scholarships and bursaries to all members and their children. Ten scholarships will be awarded for full-time studies, twenty bursaries for full-time studies and four bursaries for part-time studies. Two aboriginal scholarships will be awarded to aboriginal students in BC. The criteria and details are set out on the application forms (below). Completed application forms and transcripts must...

Times Colonist (Victoria) Workers from 13 community social services agencies will be off the job today in the largest job action since rotating strikes began two months ago. The workers will be at Centennial Square between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with a rally at noon. Agencies targeted for job action include Victoria Women's Transition House Society, Community Living Victoria...

Thursday saw the largest strike action undertaken by Community Social Services workers since they began rotating job actions almost two months ago. Workers from thirteen agencies are off the job December 13, sending a strong message to government: stop putting vulnerable families last, and provide the resources needed to improve wages and working conditions. A multi-union event took place from...

The Delta Optimist Delta Hospital was targeted for job action last Friday Patients scheduled for medical imaging procedures were notified their appointments had been cancelled. The Health Sciences Association (HSA), represented by the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA), last week said rotating strikes at various facilities would take place on Thursday and Friday. This occurred despite health science professionals...

Campbell River Courier-Islander Car horns were blaring on Dogwood Street on Monday, not because of the traffic lights but in support for the community social services workers who staged a one day walk out and picket line at Dogwood and 3rd Avenue. Cherie Dobbie, Chair of the local BC Government Employees Union said that community social services workers such as...

Community social services workers who continue to provide vital services despite being on strike since mid-October are taking their job action to a new level on Wednesday (December 12), holding a public action in Nanaimo aimed at sending a strong message to the provincial government: stop putting vulnerable families last!In the multi-union event, taking place from 10 am until 2...

Times Colonist (Victoria) Expect to see some Greater Victoria firefighters wearing surgical masks this flu season. Greater Victoria fire chiefs have endorsed a policy patterned after one used by the B.C. Ambulance Service, in which members who choose not to get flu shots are required to wear surgical masks when attending to ill people, the elderly or when entering patient...

Due to the large number of members who have expressed an interest in getting involved in the upcoming provincial election, HSA is holding another 2-day, non-partisan election campaign school. This workshop is designed for HSA members with little or no experience in electoral politics, but who are interested in working on election campaigns or running for political office. The school...

HSA members will soon be preparing for the 2013 HSA Convention, to be held April 18 - 20, 2013 at the Fairmont Hotel (Vancouver Hotel) in Vancouver. Annual convention is the union's annual meeting where chapter representatives from around the province determine the union's future direction. Policies, actions, constitutional amendments, and structural changes are all discussed and debated at convention...

Times Colonist (Victoria) This week's anticipated cancellation of medical procedures in Vancouver Island hospitals was called off Sunday, but the dispute between health professionals and their employers continues. After three days of talks overseen by veteran labour mediator Vince Ready, members of the Health Sciences Association of B.C. charged Sunday that they are being goaded into a strike by the...