News & Updates

Westside Weekly Laboratory services are running normally this week, Interior Health says. Unionized health-care workers have decided not to withdraw their services to back contract demands. Members of the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association had threatened to walk off the job, leaving only emergency service levels in place at IH labs. But health science professionals called off upcoming rotating strikes...

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...

Nanaimo News Bulletin Instead of picketing group homes, social services workers in Nanaimo opted to back their demand for better wages by giving away coats, blankets and coffee Thursday. The job action happened at Diana Krall Plaza downtown, where Hospital Employees' Union and Health Sciences Association members gave away clothing, cookies, hot chocolate and coffee to people in need. "We're...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Members may apply for Political Action Fund support to attend election campaign training which is: a) non-partisan (e.g., the Canadian Women Voters Congress Women's Campaign School); or b) offered by labour organizations with which HSA is affiliated (e.g., the BC Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress, labour councils etc); orc) offered by political parties that meet all of HSA's...

The Globe and Mail By Rod Mickleburgh In a reaction perhaps unique in labour annals, negotiators for the Health Sciences Association are so outraged by the provincial governments last contract offer that they have called off their latest round of job action. The unusual strategy was prompted by a proposal that the union charged was riddled with concessions, classification rollbacks...