Health Sciences Association of BC has contracted Viewpoints Research to conduct an on line survey to explore members' priorities and concerns as your union begins negotiations for your next contract. Viewpoints Research an industry leader with 30 years of experience conducting research for unions and other progressive organizations. Using an experienced third-party professional research firm for this membership survey ensures confidentiality and the highest quality of data.

With collective agreements covering HSA members working under public sector contracts expiring in March 2022, the union’s Board of Directors has scheduled bargaining proposal conferences for the fall.

The draft 2019-2022 Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) contract is now available on the HSA website for members to download or use online.

Members and stewards should be aware that this draft version may contain errors and omissions that will be corrected over the next few months as the agreement is finalized and printed. Once the printed version is finalized, employers will be responsible for the distribution of the collective agreement books to every employee covered by the HSPBA.

HSA has received confirmation from the Ministry of Health that the Temporary Pandemic Pay will be paid out to Health Authority staff on October 9, 2020.
 
The $4 an hour payment applies both to regular and overtime hours worked by health care workers covered by the Health Science Professionals' Bargaining Association (HSPBA), Community Bargaining Association (CBA), and Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) collective agreements for the period March 15 to July 4. Union dues are not payable on the Temporary Pandemic Pay earnings.
 

UPDATED APRIL 15

The Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) and Health Employers’ Association of BC (HEABC) have reached agreement on the details of the HSPBA wage rates negotiated for the 2019-2022 Health Science Professionals Collective Agreement.
 

BC’s nurses have voted in favour of the tentative 2019-2022 provincial agreement reached between the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) and the Health Employers' Association of BC (HEABC).

More than 21,000 ballots were cast with 54 per cent of nurses voting to ratify the three-year deal that was reached in November 2018. 

Registered psychiatric nurses who are members of HSA rejected the terms of the tentative agreement with a 73 per cent no vote.

Community-based voting on the proposed health science professionals tentative agreement gets underway on Monday, January 7, with information meetings and voting kicking off in Vancouver at the Holiday Inn on West Broadway.
 
The first week of meetings will be for members in Vancouver, Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Victoria, and White Rock.
 

The Nurses Bargaining Association reached a tentative agreement with HEABC on November 25, 2018. The term of the agreement is April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022.
 
HSA was represented at the bargaining table by staff negotiator Alyson Warner and member representative Nicole McIntosh, an RPN at St. Paul’s Hospital. They report that they had opportunities for input and relations were cordial until the final day of bargaining, when the NBA’s chief negotiator asked for the bargaining committee to agree to a tentative agreement without sharing the details of the tentative agreement.

In addition to a general wage increase for all members, this tentative agreement addresses issues that health science professionals have struggled with for the past two decades: valuing the important contributions of each and every member of the health care team, unsustainable workloads, chronic shortages and vacancies of critical members of the health care team, and a dysfunctional system of addressing increasing challenges in health and safety and work. Your Board of Directors recommends you vote "yes."