News & Updates

The Report: August / September 2000 vol.21 num.4 by CINDY STEWART The shortage of health professionals has reached a crisis point in many BC communities. This problem was recently highlighted in Prince Goerge where physicians and specialists have sounded the alarm about shortages in their field. However, as HSA members know, the problems are beyond the narrow perspective of any...

The Report: August / September 2000 vol.21 num.4 by DAN KEETON When Anabel Salazar toured several clinics around northern Vancouver Island and Victoria recently, she was awed by the level of health care services enjoyed by Canadians. But for the Salvadoran activist, the most memorable experience she will take back to her Central American homeland is "the very friendly people...

The Report: August / September 2000 vol.21 num.4 by JUDITH McCORMACK When an employee believes she has been unjustly disciplined, and the grievance is not resolved, who decides if the grievance gets referred to arbitration? What are some of the considerations? The daily diet of a union representative often includes deciding whether discipline grievances should be carried through to arbitration...

The Report: August / September 2000 vol.21 num.4 by DAN KEETON You might say that Karin Cleven takes her work home with her. After a busy day as a supervisor at SHARE Family & Community Services Society, Cleven plows her energies into securing permanent funding for individuals with fetal alcohol syndrome and their families. Clevens experience in counselling sparked her...

VANCOUVER - An interprovincial meeting of unions representing more than 75,000 health care professionals wrapped up an annual two-today conference today by calling for a national strategy to address the Canada-wide shortage of health professionals and the growing trend toward privatization."It is important for the federal government to realize that the shortage of health care professionals is not limited to...

Joint news release from HEU, BCNU, BCGEU and HSAHealth care workers and other medicare advocates in B.C. joined thousands of demonstrators across Canada today to demand immediate action by Ottawa to stop privatization of medicare.-We are on the brink of Canadas biggest medical emergency ever," Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, warned a huge crowd outside the...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI HSA has won a significant Workers' Compensation Board appeal, marking one of the first times the WCB has recognized psychological disability caused by workplace harassment for union activity. The WCB initially rejected the claim of the former HSA chief steward, who developed a disabling depression due to extensive and...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by YUKIE KURAHASHI When the management of Magnolia House announced last year that they would be closing the North Vancouver facility, the employees - including twelve HSA members - thought they would be losing their jobs. In fact, they were issued lay-off notices in April, and many workers had already started the...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 by RACHEL NOTLEY The Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare has approved $10,000 for HSA to continue research relating to on-call work. Last fall, HSA retained a PhD candidate from UBC to conduct a literature search on the issue of on-call work. Her findings showed that there were a variety of...

The Report: June / July 2000 vol.21 num.3 HSA Classifications staff are responsible for the myriad issues that flow from negotiating, implementing, and administrating the classifications systems of four master collective agreements: the Paramedical Professional Collective Agreement, the Nurses Collective Agreement, the Health Services and Support Community Subsector Agreement, and the Community Social Services Collective Agreement. The area has three...