News & Updates

The Daily News (Kamloops) Pressing for a wage hike, members of the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia are set to begin rotating strikes at hospitals across the province. The strikes begin Thursday when pharmacy services at hospitals, including Royal Inland Hospital, will be reduced to essential service levels from 9 a.m. to midnight. There will be no picket lines...

Globe and Mail By Rod Mickleburgh VANCOUVER -- The province's health-care workers are hailing a last- minute reprieve in a landmark policy by public health officials that would have forced them to receive a flu shot or wear a surgical mask during their shifts. Staff who refused to comply with the policy - the first of its kind in Canada...

As health science professionals return to the bargaining table today, plans to begin rotating strikes have been delayed one day to demonstrate good faith in the bargaining process. Talks between the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association and Health Employers Association of BC are scheduled to continue through the week. With the change, the rotating strikes will begin Thursday, December 6...

On December 3, the world recognizes International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is calling on all levels of government in Canada to make full participation in society for people with disabilities a policy priority. People with disabilities already make a considerable contribution to our society but they could do so much...

Canadian Press Negotiations resume today for members of the B-C Health Sciences Association who are planning job action at health care facilities later this week to press their contract demands. The action begins Thursday -- a day later than first planned -- when pharmacists go to essential service levels, followed by medical imaging techs on Friday. Association president Reid Johnson...

Canadian Press Members of the BC Health Sciences Association say they will begin strike action this week after months of inaction at the bargaining table. Hospital pharmacists will reduce their work to essential services this Wednesday and, on Friday, medical imaging techs will do the same. Association president Reid Johnson says members are frustrated after eight months of negotiations with...

In order to demonstrate support for continued bargaining, the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association has delayed plans for rotating strikes by one day. Instead of reducing pharmacy services to essential service levels Wednesday, the job action will commence Thursday, December 6 at 9 a.m. and continue until midnight Thursday. -In recognition of the governments reasonable agreement to suspend the punitive...

The Report: December 2012 vol.33 num.4 IN OUR LONG HISTORY, HSA MEMBERS HAVE RARELY FELT WE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO PREPARE FOR A STRIKE. Our health science professional members have only gone on strike three times before now, and the last time more than 11 years ago. Its not something we take lightly. That is why it is so...

The Report: December 2012 vol.33 num.4 SINCE 2004, THE BC LIBERAL GOVERNMENT HAS SLASHED $300 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED, VULNERABLE WOMEN, AT-RISK YOUTH, AND CHILDREN AND INFANTS IN COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS ACROSS THE PROVINCE. Community social service workers have faced a decade of declining wages. The current starting wage for a residential care worker is...

The Report: December 2012 vol.33 num.4 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN IS IT POSSIBLE TO STAND UP FOR YOUR PROFESSION USING 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS? HSA member Dr. Dean Elbe says, -Yes, absolutely." Elbe, a Clinical Pharmacist at BC Childrens Hospitals Child and Adolescent Mental Health Program, used his Twitter account to help HSA galvanize opposition to a proposed 14 per cent...