News & Updates

EB03-21HSA is offering a basic OH&S steward workshop on October 20 & 21, 2003. Occupational health and safety issues are very important to HSA members. OH&S stewards have a vital role in promoting a safe work environment and helping to prevent injuries. These workshops will be participatory and discussion oriented. We urge you to bring examples from your workplace for...

EB03-22 EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO HEALTH AND SAFETY EDUCATION The BC Federation of Labour's Occupational Health and Safety Education Project is now offering the basic course worker representatives and health and safety committee members need to be effective, as well as advanced courses on specific topics. These courses are only open to OH&S stewards who are members of their worksite's...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by DAN KEETON n Joan Magee’s case, working part time doesn’t mean spending more time on the couch. “It frees me up to do other things during the week,” said the lab technologist and HSA’s chief steward at Cariboo Regional Hospital. Joan Magee Chief steward & medical technologist Cariboo Regional Hospital The community of...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by BRUCE WILKINS I have heard that our rights around the 7.5 hour day have changed. Have they changed, and what does it mean for me? An arbitration decision in June 2003 has indeed changed the union’s collective agreement rights under Appendix 7 of the 2001-2004 Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association contract (related to Article...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by BONNIE PHILLIPS recently visited the Canadian Blood Services with the goal of investigating the current state of affairs with the pending closure of the testing laboratory, originally slated for April 2004 but recently moved forward to September 2003. As region 5s elected representative on HSAs board of directors, I felt I needed to...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by RON OHMART n the months leading up to the expiry of several collective agreements in the public sector, its time to begin to turn our attention to HSAs approach to bargaining. We are already heading into uncharted territory as the preliminary work gets underway in the community social services sector. In May, the...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by CINDY STEWART C NDP leader Joy MacPhail announced early in June that she will not be seeking the leadership of the party at the convention this coming November. In making her announcement, she said that in the two years since the Liberal government’s landslide victory, her party has not only survived but is...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by CAROLE PEARSON n El Salvador, health care workers, including doctors, have been on strike for nine months to protest government efforts to privatize the countrys health system. Salvadoran President Francisco Flores and the ruling National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party claim privatizing the health system will bring health care -to each according to the...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 he Competition Bureau of Canada has agreed to investigate a complaint filed against the pricing practices of major drug companies. Initiated by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) in co-operation with a coalition of unions, seniors groups and consumer watchdogs, the complaint alleges anti-competitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry. “This is...

A move by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to privatize thousands of surgical procedures has staggering implications for public health care, says a medicare advocacy organization.And the BC Health Coalition is calling on Health Services Minister Colin Hansen to order a stop to the health authority's plans to contract out publicly insured surgeries and hold public hearings on the government's...