News & Updates

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 by LYN BLENKINSOP In September of 1997, I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of 16health care workers, and one of five HSA members, to be trained by the Healthcare LabourAdjustment Agency to deliver peer counselling services to employees who have beendisplaced, threatened with future displacement or affected by changing...

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 by YUKIE KURAHASHI In 1971, Pat Holisky was instrumental in the formation of HSA as aunion to represent the rights of paramedical professionals in the workplace. Twenty-eightyears later ... as she retires ... HSA was able to pay back a big debt of gratitude,with a significant settlement of a longstanding policy grievance...

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 Y2K bug = vacation ban? Some health employers have stated recently that they will be banningall vacations for employees from December 31, 1999 to March 15, 2000. The employers arguethat the potential effects of a Y2K disaster on health care delivery warrants this move,and that health facilities may need staff available to...

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 Heres how the unemployed paid down the federaldeficit by KEVIN HAYES Unemployment Insurance is at the heart of the Chrétiengovernments fiscal strategy. Cuts in UI benefits account for over half of thereduction in program expenditures since Paul Martins first budget in 1994. From deficit to surplusThere is no federal surplus if the...

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 A group of national and community organizations released an AlternativeFederal Budget in late January that says vital measures are needed to resuscitateCanadas ailing health care system and improve the social and economic well-being ofCanadians. -Thirty years after Canadians built a publicly-funded, universalhealth care system, Medicare is in crisis," said Pat Armstrong, Director...

The Report: February / March 1999 vol.19 num.6 EDITOR'S NOTE: We are departing from our usual format this issue toreprint an article by Judith McCormack, the former chair of the Ontario Labour RelationsBoard, and a lawyer with Sack Goldblatt Mitchell in Toronto. Within the HSA membership a great many grievances arise out ofreorganizational initiatives taken by the employer or the...

British Columbia's 10,000 paramedical professionals will be urged to vote in favour of Mediator Brian Foley's report recommending terms of settlement for a collective agreement between the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association and the Health Employers' Association of BC.Cindy Stewart, President of the Health Sciences Association of BC (HSA) which represents approximately 90 per cent of paramedical professionals, says the bargaining...

Mediator Brian Foley has advised the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association that his report recommending terms of settlement for a collective agreement will not be released this afternoon as planned. Mr. Foley will release his report in one week, on Wednesday, January 27.In a letter to the unions and employers, Mr. Foley said that he requires more time to give due...

The Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association announced this afternoon that they will return to the bargaining table Friday, January 15. The announcement came in response to a request by Labour Minister Dale Lovick that the unions and employers return the table with Mediator Brian Foley."We have agreed to continue mediated talks," said Cindy Stewart, President of the Health Sciences Association of...

Paramedical professionals to begin job action Monday, January 11Mediated talks between the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association and the Health Employers' Association of BC broke down this afternoon after the employer presented a revised proposal that fails to address the unions' key bargaining issues and still contains significant concession demands.More than 10,000 paramedical professionals will begin job action on Monday, January...