HSA members gathered in Richmond last week to consider HSA members’ priorities for the Nurses Bargaining Association. Wages and benefits are the priorities for HSA’s more than 1,400 registered psychiatric nurses who work under the Nurses Bargaining Association collective agreement.

Members called for a fix to the Pharmacare Tie-in implement in the 2012-2014 contract, as well as for improved wages and classification specialization that recognizes registered psychiatric nurses’ unique contribution to the modern health care team.

Registered psychiatric nurses represented by HSA have a lot of questions about pressure tactics currently employed by the BC Nurses Union and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses. Both BCNU and UPN have recently pressured members already represented by HSA, and we've been getting questions about whether it's possible to cancel these memberships.

The deadline is now

The week of November 19, HSA will hold bargaining proposal conferences related to the four public sector contracts under which members work.

Local union meetings are being held for members to discuss proposals for consideration at the conferences, which will set the direction for bargaining new collective agreements. The contracts all expire March 31, 2014.

A new Enhanced Disability Management Program (EDMP) negotiated into the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association and Nurses' Bargaining Association contracts in the last round of bargaining comes into effect today.

The program replaces disability management programs previously run by individual health authorities.

Jointly developed with employers and other unions over several year, EDMP is an employee-centred, proactive, and customized disability management program for employees with occupational and non-occupational illnesses and injuries.

 HSA Registered Psychiatric Nurses are encouraged to access funding available through the union for professional development.

“Continuing education is important to Registered Psychiatric Nurses, and HSA has structure this fund – obtained through contract bargaining – to provide access to training dollars to as many members as possible,” said HSA President Val Avery.

RPN members have expressed concern that an upcoming round of votes ordered by the Labour Relations Board will result in HSA members becoming members of another union.

This is not the case.

The votes will not involve RPNs, and to date, the Labour Relations Board has not given any indication that its decision will have any bearing on HSA's right to continue to represent RPN members.

BACKGROUND

A policy grievance arbitration over the unprecedented Influenza Control Program Policy introduced by the Health Employers' Association of BC (HEABC) last August will open tomorrow in Vancouver.

THE REPORT: JULY 2013

Diligent work by an HSA steward has resulted in a cheque for several hundred dollars for at least one member. is someone you work with next?

Val Barker, chief steward for Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, discovered some of the RPNs working there were paying dues to BCNU – not HSA.

Barker first realized that administrative errors were mistakenly assigning RPNs to BCNU instead of HSA about a year ago.

"As the chief steward, nurses would come to me to ask about being in a union," says Barker.

In celebrating Nursing Week, HSA President Reid Johnson thanks Registered Psychiatric Nurses across the province for their expertise and dedication. "The theme of this year's Nursing Week is 'a leading force for change,' and BC's psych nurses are lighting the way," Johnson said.

"With their specialized intensive training, Registered Psychiatric Nurses have long been recognized as the caregivers of choice in mental health," he said.

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.