News & Updates

HSA members will soon be preparing for the 2014 HSA Convention, to be held April 10-12, 2014 at the Fairmont Hotel (Vancouver Hotel) in Vancouver. Annual convention is the union’s annual meeting where chapter representatives from around the province determine the union’s future direction. Policies, actions, constitutional amendments, and structural changes are all discussed and debated at convention. Members who...

The Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA) reached a tentative agreement in late November for the over 15,000 union members working in the community health sector across the province. It is a five-year agreement effective April 1, 2014 until March 31, 2019 and your HSA Board of Directors supports your bargaining committee’s recommendation that members VOTE YES to accept the agreement...

Take Action Against Domestic Violence Over a recent 5 year period, an estimated 183,000 British Columbians were victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence impacts victims and their families and has a serious effect on those who witness it. Health care costs related to domestic violence in Canada are estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Social and emotional costs...

The Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association tentative agreement has been amended to reflect two developments that have flowed out of review and discussion of the agreement. First, under wages, an Economic Stability Dividend payout was left out of the original document. This was an error of omission which came to our attention November 21, 2013. It was corrected that same...

The Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) has reached a tentative agreement for the 11,000 union members working in community-based social services across the province. The five-year agreement, which would be in place to March 31, 2019, significantly closes the wage gap between workers in this sector and those with equivalent positions in the community health sector. "With this tentative...

The Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA) has reached a tentative agreement for the more than 15,000 union members working in the community health sector across the province. It is a five-year agreement effective April 1, 2014 until March 31, 2019. "This tentative agreement provides stability for the community health sector for the next five years and takes an important first...

Plaque at l'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine, armed with a rifle and a hunting knife, entered a classroom at l'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, separated male from female students, claimed he was "fighting feminism", and shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through other areas of the university specifically targeting women...

A MESSAGE FROM JEANNE MEYERS, HSA LABOUR RELATIONS AND LEGAL SERVICES HSA REPORT, DECEMBER 2013 As this issue of The Report goes to press, the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association has reached a tentative agreement for a renewed contract running from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019. The proposed five-year agreement has a number of elements that I and...

A MESSAGE FROM HSA PRESIDENT VAL AVERY THE REPORT, DECEMBER 2013 HSA and other unions have been hunkered down in ceaseless and difficult negotiations for almost five years. The effort has expended enormous resources – resources that we need to focus on helping members deal with their daily workplace challenges. So when mediators approached HSA and other unions about early...

HSA REPORT, DECEMBER 2013 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN By any standards, Edith MacHattie's job is immensely challenging. The school-aged children she works with as an Occupational Therapist at Surrey's Centre for Child Development are the most medically complex kids. "We focus on the most compromised. These are not just kids having trouble with handwriting," she says. "Most are in wheelchairs, some...