HSA encourages all members to take precautions and ensure safety. The National Unions website outlines the necessary steps and equipment required for health-care workers to appropriately plan and protect themselves.

Keep checking HSAs website at www.hsabc.org for updates as they become available; the union is continuing to coordinate with the health authorities, Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH), the Centre for Disease Control, and WorkSafeBC.

On Tuesday May 12, 2009 citizens of British Columbia will head to the polls and vote for their representative in the legislature.

The BC Health Coalition urges everyone to ask your candidate where they stand on the key public health care issues in your community - and to vote for the candidate who supports public health care and public innovation to address our health care challenges.

April 28th, 2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Day of Mourning. Held in 100 countries around the world, it is a day to reflect on the terrible toll of workers killed and injured on the job.

Last year, 160 workers in BC were killed or died as the result of an occupational disease. Since 2002, workplace fatalities and serious injuries have continued to increase.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is calling on the Canadian government to appoint special prosecutors to step up enforcement of laws to protect workers on the job.

In conjunction with observances marking the 25th National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job in Canada, NUPGE president James Clancy has written to Rob Nicholson, the country's justice minister and attorney general, calling for new measures to improve safety for workers.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) are urging health care workers and members and the public to take note of an announcement by Ontario's chief medical officer concerning an outbreak of severe respiratory illness (SRI) that began in Mexico and is spreading globally.

For more information, follow this link.

Delegates to HSA's 38th annual convention April 24 and 25 called on the union to take action on publicizing the impact of cuts to legal aid services.

A concrete step members can take is to sign the WestCoast LEAF and Pivot Legal Society petition calling for the restoration of legal aid in the province.

The BC Health Coalition is urging the provincial government to investigate recent charges by a Kelowna surgeon that private surgical companies are illegally billing patients for publicly insured cataract surgeries across the province.

HSA is one of several unions, community organizations, churches and others endorsing this weekend's Grand March For Housing organized by the Citywide Housing Coalition.

March participants will send a message to candidates in the upcoming provincial election that ending homelessness is a key to developing healthy communities.

Join the march this Saturday, April 4 at one of these starting points at 12 noon:

Although all working people report they are suffering from more stress related to balancing responsibilities at work and at home, the greater burden is falling on women. Statistics reveal that women bear the brunt of duties associated with child care, are the primary caregivers for the elder care of aging parents and are responsible for the majority of household chores.

On February 6, 2009, the government tabled legislation that will radically change the rules governing pay equity in the federal public sector.