News & Updates

HSA members are invited to attend the official opening for the TELUS Tour for the Cure in Trail on Thursday, August 10th at 11 a.m. at Waneta Plaza.The TELUS Tour for the Cure is an informative and interactive exhibit that will travel to communities across British Columbia over the next eight months to promote the value and importance of breast...

Ottawa - The federal government has awarded raises of 2.5% to top government executives and deputy ministers along with 3% increases to the heads of crown corporations. The increases were not announced officially by the new Conservative government, which made accountability to voters a hallmark of its election campaign last January. Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet quietly...

Union members interested in participating in Vancouvers Pride Week events this year are encouraged to join to Multi-Union Pride events. Saturday, Aug. 5: Dyke March Meet the Labour Dyke contingent, which is gathering at 11:30 a.m. at McSpadden Park at 4th Avenue and Victoria Drive. At 12 noon the Dyke March will proceed from McSpadden Park to Grandview Park on...

The Report: August 2006 vol.27 num.4by CINDY STEWART n the day that Gordon Campbell visited Surrey with an announcement ofa new-outpatient centre" to augment health careservices in that city ...widely speculated to be the most bold introduction of private healthcare into our system ...the governments strongest and most effectiveadvocatefor thoughtful, managed and successful public health carereform threw in the towel...

The Report: August 2006 vol.27 num.4 by SARAH OLEARY Because of a permanent workplace injury in 1999, I was awarded a partial disability pension from the Workers Compensation Board in 2001. My condition has since worsened. I have heard from my occupational health and safety steward that WCB benefits havebeen severely curtailed under the BC Liberal government. Is this true...

The Report: August 2006 vol.27 num.4 by LAURA BUSHEIKIN e all know that physiotherapists help heal peoples bodies. But forthis to happen effectively, the medical decision-making bodies needsome rehab as well, says Scott Brolin, Professional Practice Chief ofPhysiotherapy at Royal Columbian Hospital. Brolins focus is on the big picture; on looking athow hospital administrations work, how decisionsare made, and how...

The Report: August 2006 vol.27 num.4 by LAURA BUSHEIKIN he water calls to Marianne Hansen ... and the aquatic therapist at Queens Park Care Centre in New Westminster answers it every day. -This is the thing that I am so passionate about: when you free the body in that way, in semi-weightlessness and warmth, theres this huge letting-go process. Ive...

The Report: August 2006 vol.27 num.4 by CAROL RIVIÈRE xposure to potentially infectious blood and other body fluids is a serious occupational hazard for many health care workers. HSA and other health care unions have beenworking with frontline workers, employers, BCs Occupational Health andSafety Agency for Health Care (OHSAH) and WorkSafeBC (formerly WCB), tofind and implement effective measures to minimize...

The transfer of responsibility for funding the Long Term Disability plan for members of the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) will come into effect a week ahead of schedule. Negotiated in the recent round of bargaining, members will see a 70 per cent reduction in their contribution to the premiums. Since 1986, the LTD plan had been wholly supported...

The Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) have agreed to a temporary market adjustment for pharmacists to deal with the severe shortages facing many pharmacy departments around the province. In some facilities, pharmacy departments are operating with more than 50 per cent of positions vacant, forcing pharmacists to stop practising their full...