News & Updates

As you are aware, negotiations with community social service employers broke off in December. At this time of uncertainty, job cuts, and layoffs, employment security demands are the best opportunity we have to protect jobs and vital public community services. Yet the Community Social Services Employers Association (CSSEA) is asking for concessions at the bargaining table and refuse to discuss...

In recent weeks, HSA members working in community social services have been attending membership meetings across the province to discuss next steps in their efforts to secure a fair collective agreement. The meetings were scheduled by the multi-union Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) in response to the current impasse at the bargaining table, where employers have refused to consider...

The Health Sciences Association has developed a Q&A of frequently-asked questions regarding Health Information Management Lower Mainland consolidation. Please see the Q&A here: Q&A on Lower Mainland Health Information Management consolidation HSAs committee members on Health Information Management consolidation are as follows: Rav Dhillon, Health Information Management, Richmond General Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health Karen Hatchwell, Health Information Management, Surrey Memorial...

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BCs Interior Health Authority is paying thousands of dollars in additional costs to recruit ultrasound technologists from private, for-profit clinics to work in IHA hospitals because the government has refused to address a critical shortage of ultrasound technologists in BC, Reid Johnson, President of the Health Sciences Association of BC said today. -The governments failure to have an effective recruitment...

WorkSafeBC has issued nine separate orders at two Victoria-area mental health facilities criticizing the failure of Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) to protect the safety of staff. -This is a staggering number of WorkSafeBC orders issued against one employer," said HSA President Reid Johnson. Johnson, who has worked on psychiatric wards as a social worker, said unstable psychiatric patients are...

HSA is offering scholarships and bursaries to all members and their children. We will be awarding ten scholarships for full-time studies, twenty bursaries for full-time studies, four bursaries for part-time studies and two aboriginal scholarships. The criteria and details are set out on the application forms. To obtain a copy please see the HSA website: http://www.hsabc.org/content.php?id=10&sid=5 Completed application forms and...

HSA members in Region 3 have once again elected Bruce MacDonald as their representative to the HSA Board of Directors. He was acclaimed after the January 27th deadline passed with no further nominations. Bruce is a social worker at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. He has been a member of HSA since 2000. Bruce was first elected to the...

HSA members in Region 1 have elected Anne Davis as their new representative to the HSA Board of Directors. Anne was acclaimed after the January 27th deadline passed with no further nominations. Former Region 1 Director, Suzanne Bennett, did not seek re-election.Anne is a Program Coordinator at the Comox Valley Transition Society. She was involved in the union organizing drive...

During the next several weeks, HSA members in Region 9 will have an opportunity to elect their representative on HSAs Board of Directors. Nominations for the position closed on January 27th with two members declaring their candidacy: • Janice Morrison, a Physiotherapist at Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson; and • Jackie Spain, a Medical Laboratory Technologist at Golden & District...