On April 28, workers and their families are invited to pay tribute to those who have been injured or killed on the job, or stricken with occupational disease.

Every day in Canada, three workers are killed on the job and 685 workers suffer work-related injuries or occupational diseases. Last year in British Columbia, 181 workers died as a result of workplace accidents or diseases and more than 17,000 BC workers were injured.

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.

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.

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 REPORT: APRIL 2013

BY REID JOHNSON
PRESIDENT, HSA

As The Report magazine went to press, our community social service members were just voting on their tentative agreement. But for most members, another hard round of bargaining has come to an end.

THE REPORT: APRIL 2013

"I simply can't contemplate another four years of cutbacks and the impact that would have on my community," says Region 1 Director Anne Davis.

HSA members are urged to vote in the provincial election. The outcome of this election will have a profound effect on the health care and community services our members provide, as well as other public services that our families, friends and communities rely on.

Eligible voters may vote on the general voting day: May 14, 2013.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, celebrated every year on March 21, was established to commemorate the day in 1960 when police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid "pass laws" in Sharpeville, South Africa. Proclaiming the Day in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. (Resolution 2142 (XXI))

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is concerned that the federal government is missing an opportunity to respond to Canada's underlying economic problems by continuing its hands-off, short-term approach in its 2013 budget released today.

See full story at the NUPGE website here.

Vancouver Sun 

By: Darryl Walker, Barry O'Neill and Bonnie Pearson And Reid Johnson