News & Updates

The Report: April / May 2001 vol.22 num.2 by DAN KEETON Leslie Sofarelli Social Worker Intensive Care Unit, St. Paul's Hospital Leslie Sofarelli might rival some of the best gumshoes in the business with her success rate in tracking down long-lost relatives, but youd be hard-pressed to find a private investigator who could bring half the compassion to their work...

The Health Sciences Association (HSA) tabled a wage proposal with the Health Employers Association of BC this week calling for a 30 per cent wage increase over two years for the provinces 14,000 health sciences professionals.The union bargaining committee is recommending health science professionals back the demands at the bargaining table with a strong strike vote to be conducted by...

The bargaining association representing 10,000 health science professionals opens negotiations today with the Health Employers' Association of B.C."Our members have told us it's time for a raise," chief negotiator Rick Lampshire of the Health Sciences Association said."After ten years of wage controls, health science professionals are looking for a significant increase in wages to recognize their education level, skills and...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 Members identify workload, ergonomics as key issues by YUKIE KURAHASHI Every day, each cytotechnologist at the BC Cancer Agency's Cervical Cancer Screening Program scrutinizes 85 slides, with the knowledge that each slide may carry information that could profoundly affect the life of a woman somewhere in the province. The BC Cancer Agency's...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by RACHEL NOTLEY Medical radiation technologists tend to experience symptoms of respiratory illness at a higher rate than do physiotherapists. Thats the conclusion of a recent comparative study by researchers at UBC. The authors of the study, Helen Ward and Michelle Wymer, describe symptoms which include bronchial hyper-responsiveness, wheezing, shortness of breath...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 In mid-November, when delegates to HSAs paramedical professional bargaining conference sat down to their first day, they faced two immense tasks. The first was examining and evaluating over 600 proposals submitted by members from around the province. The second was narrowing the list of proposals, and setting strategic priorities for bargaining in...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 HSA is a member-run union governed by a Board of Directors. The Board is composed of one member elected from each of ten regions around the province, and a President elected by delegates at Annual Convention. When you elect your Regional Director, you are casting a vote for your representative who is...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by CINDY STEWART Whats it going to take? Hard work and determination on the part of each and every health professional that HSA represents. In mid-November, delegates to HSAs Paramedical Professional Bargaining Conference met to determine the priorities for HSAs10,000 health science professionals in the upcoming round of negotiations. The conference coincided...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by BRIAN ISBERG No matter how much the Capital Health Region or any other region amalgamates, consolidates, restructures, reorganizes or regionalizes, it will not get past the underlying fact that there are not enough health science professionals to continue providing quality patient care in the present environment - let alone in one...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by RICK LAMPSHIRE The collective bargaining process for health science professionals has begun. HSAs bargaining proposal conference held November 15 through 17 was a huge success; participants worked hard, and were prepared to make difficult decisions to identify the priority issues of our membership. We will present a tight, focused package to...