News & Updates

Times Colonist (Victoria) Hospital professional staff undertaking rotating strikes across B.C. are paid less than counterparts in other provinces, union figures show. Some professional hospital employees could earn as much as $10 more an hour in Alberta, said dietitian Bill Hadden, co-chief union steward at Victoria General Hospital for the Health Sciences Association of B.C. "We're losing a lot of...

Comox Valley Record North Island community workers will strike in Campbell River and Courtenay on Monday. Professionals from not-for-profit agencies that support vulnerable families on the North Island will be on strike Dec. 10. Community workers want to send a clear message to the B.C. government: Stop putting vulnerable families last! Since 2004, the B.C. Liberal government has cut $300...

Times Colonist (Victoria) Byline: Katherine Dedyna More than 500 medical imaging procedures slated across Vancouver Island today have been cancelled as X-ray and CT scan specialists in B.C. take rotating strike action to press for a new contract. The cancellations, classed as non-urgent, include 188 procedures scheduled for Victoria General and Royal Jubilee hospitals; keeping cancer and children's cases on...

Canadian Press The second stage of strike action by members of the Health Sciences Association hits BC hospitals today. Workers who deliver diagnostic imaging services like x-rays, CT scans and ultrasounds will scale back to essential services as part of an effort to pressure the government to come up with a better contract offer. The union's job action began yesterday...

Trail Daily Times Brief job action by hospital pharmacists and medical imaging technicians is expected to impact patient services at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital today, says a spokesperson for Interior Health Authority. Karl Hardt said Thursday that Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) health science employees' job action will affect the hospital's operation Friday. "There will be some impact (today),"...

Cowichan News Leader Pictorial Byline: Peter Rusland Cowichanians whose long-awaited CT-scan dates are bumped by this week's hospital labour strife will be re-booked quickly, health brass promised Thursday. "Those dates will be rescheduled as soon as possible; they wont go back to the bottom of the list," said Suzanne Germain of the Vancouver Island Health Authority. "If someone has not...

Nanaimo News Bulletin Byline: Niomi Pearson A two-day strike by health care workers at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and across the province will mean a delay in services for some residents. After nine months of contract negotiations and serving strike notice to B.C. employers, the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) announced that job action will commence today and tomorrow...

Castlegar News Hospital pharmacists and medical imaging technicians plan to go ahead with brief strikes Thursday and Friday as a mediator attempts to reach a settlement with 16,000 health science employees at hospitals and clinics across B.C. Mediator Vince Ready was brought in Tuesday after negotiations that started in February failed to produce an agreement. The Health Employers Association of...

Comox Valley Record St. Joseph's General Hospital has cancelled about 70 diagnostic imaging scans on Dec. 7 due to medical imaging technicians' job action. The essential-service-only job action is expected to last 24 hours and Jane Murphy, St. Joseph's president and CEO, notes only non-urgent outpatient tests have been cancelled; urgent and inpatient tests have not been cancelled. Diagnostic imaging...

Health science professionals began rotating strikes today to put pressure on government to get serious about bargaining a new collective agreement with the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA). Hospital pharmacists reduced services to essential services only. Starting at midnight tonight, health science professionals who deliver diagnostic imaging services will reduce their services to essential services only. This group of...