The Report

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2015 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN Stasia Hasumi, a Crisis Intervention Support Worker at the Comox Valley Transition Society, has plenty of high-stress moments at work. As a front-line worker at a 12-bed transition house for women and children, she needs to respond moment-by-moment to the needs of women facing danger, trauma and severely disrupted lives. "We have...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2015 HSA member David Bland was a vocational counsellor who worked at Richmond Mental Health Services. At the end of an otherwise ordinary work day in January of 2005, as David left his workplace, a former client was waiting in the parking lot – and fatally stabbed David. To honour his memory, the union established the...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2015 Acknowleding the diversity of HSA members and the issues they care about, HSA President Val Avery opened the convention with a report on how the board of directors, committees and activists must daily strive to balance demands and goals. "We represent a hundred different professions," said Avery. "But those differences don't divide us – they...

HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 What does your union do well? what do you think HSA needs to improve? what should it look like in 2020? In a contantly changing world, HSA needs to keep up. The bargaining landscape is more challenging. Members are dealing with more work and less time to be active in the union. External threats consume greater...

HSA Report, March 2015 The BC Federation of Labour is encouraging union members and all Metro Vancouver residents to vote yes in the upcoming spring transit referendum. "The Mayors' Council Transportation Plan will benefit transit users and drivers alike by reducing their travel time and overall congestion in the region," said Irene Lanzinger, President of the BC Federation of Labour...

HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 BY CAROL RIVIERE, HSA COMMUNICATIONS The results of the 2015 federal election will have a critical impact on many issues, but none more so than health care. Canada's federal government was essential in establishing our public health care system. It continues to have a crucial leadership role to play in improving and expanding Medicare. Leadership is...

HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN For many cancer patients, getting enough to eat is a challenge. At a time when being well-nourished is so essential, they face an array of challenging symptoms – mouth sores, taste changes, changes in saliva, nausea, vomiting, swallowing problems, constipation, and more, all potential side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation. And certain cancers, in...

HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 The 37.5 hour work week first took effect on September 1, 2013, and over the course of that fall HSA filed a significant number of grievances on behalf of members impacted by the implementation. In the 18 months since then, a lot has happened. The 37.5 hour work week was proposed by the Health Employers Association...

Photo by Leif Norman HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 ChildCare 2020 was the first national child care policy conference in a decade and the fourth such conference in Canada's history. The first was held in 1971 in conjunction with the growing women's rights movement. The second, in 1982, founded what is now the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. The third...

HSA REPORT, MARCH 2015 BY DENNIS BLATCHFORD, HSA PENSIONS AND BENEFITS ADVOCATE Can members expect to see changes in our health and welfare benefits through the new health and welfare trust? It would be good to have additional services like dietitians added to the extended health portion of the plan. We are far from a point where any changes to...