2013: News Archive

Community social service workers have voted in favour of a two-year contract that provides a wage increase while protecting health and welfare benefits. Community Living workers ratified the tentative agreement by 71 percent. General Services ratified by 84 percent. The weighted average ratification vote for both sectors was 76 percent. HSA represents almost 800 community social services workers covered by...

More than 300 HSA union activists welcomed delegates from new certification: Whistler Health Centre. "Welcome to the family!" Delegates to HSA’s 42nd annual convention this weekend re-elected Reid Johnson as president, and debated resolutions that continue building the founding principles of the union. In his report to delegates, President Reid Johnson called on activists to continue their determined efforts to...

Candidate for president Ali Rirash looks on as HSA President Reid Johnson addresses delegates Delegates to HSA's 2013 annual convention have re-elected President Reid Johnson. Ali Rirash, a medical laboratory technologist at Victoria General Hospital, and Kevin Towhey, a medical radiation technologist at Royal Inland Hospital, also ran for the position. Delegates voted on Saturday morning. "I appreciate the trust...

HSA announced today the establishment of a $120,000 Professional Development Fund accessible to all registered psychiatric nurses who are members of HSA. The funds, achieved through collective bargaining, may be used to cover professional development courses and events. HSA will cover the cost of tuition, registration fees, books and related expenses to a maximum of $500. Application deadline is December...

To follow HSA Convention news as it happens, visit our Facebook page Members of the Health Sciences Association, the union delivering modern health care that represents health sciences professionals who deliver diagnosis, treatment and recovery in BCs hospitals and communities, is meeting this weekend at its 42nd annual convention in Vancouver. Over the course of the next two days members...

The spirit of the negotiated agreement surrounding the change from a 36-hour to a 37.5-hour work week was confirmed this week as the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) reached agreement on a process to implement the 37.5 hour work week agreed to in the recently ratified collective agreement. "While at least one...

Have you ever considered getting more involved in the union but felt you couldn't, for a variety of reasons? The Women's Committee of the Health Sciences Association of BC is conducting a survey of women in the union to identify barriers that may keep them from participating in union leadership roles and/or union activities (eg meetings, education). The Women's Committee...

Following a consultation process that can only be described as a sham, BC Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid – on the day before the current government dissolves – announced today the enactment of legislation that dramatically changes the structure of collective bargaining in health care, HSA President Reid Johnson said today. “On her last day on the job, Health Minister Margaret...

THE REPORT: APRIL 2013 Medical Laboratory technologists at (PHSA) Whistler Health Care Centre joined HSA on February 27. The employees approached HSA about becoming members of the union and the decision to join was unanimous. This new chapter is a first – no other employees of Whistler Health Care Centre are unionized. "The Whistler Health Care Centre laboratory has evolved...

Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid on Monday announced that new nursing legislation had been signed into law, bringing licensed practical nurses under the same bargaining structure as the B.C. Nurses’ Union. The legislation – Bill 18, the Health Authorities Amendment Act – passed last month over the objections of the Hospital Employees’ Union, which called the legislation a last-minute change prepared...