The Report

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 by BUD GODDERIS few months ago I was part of a meeting with HSA’s Committee for Equality and Social Action (CESA) to talk about the human rights and social justice work of the Ecumenical Task Force for Justice in the Americas (formerly Christian Task Force on Central America). As a retired member...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 hat are your key concerns about working conditions? What role does the union play in your workplace? What challenges do you encounter to provide the standards of care that are consistent with good nursing practice? These are some of the provocative questions that RPNs from across the province tackled earlier this year...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 ore than 13,000 community health workers represented by HSA and eight other unions in the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) have voted 78 per cent to accept a new collective agreement. Employers have also ratified the 2-year contract which, in exchange for modest concessions, discourages massive contracting out under Bill 29 and creates...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 embers of the Union Bargaining Association representing community social services workers are scheduled to complete ratification votes on a tentative collective agreement by April 19. HSAs bargaining team, and the other 12 unions in the UBA, concluded six months of grueling bargaining with a tentative agreement that achieved HSA members top priority...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 argaining between the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association and Health Employers Association of BC was temporarily suspended in April after several bargaining sessions that started in late February. -It became clear to the two sides bargaining committees that while negotiations had been frank and cordial, the uncertainty in the broader health care labour...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 by HANS BROWN hat happens when you train only 135 people to fill 298 positions? You get one big shortage and one big headache. What is respiratory therapy? For most people, breathing is as easy and natural as blinking. But for thousands of Canadians, breathing is a struggle. They might be accident...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 he recently-created Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat (CHPS) held a highly successful two-day meeting in Ottawa at the end of February to plot strategy for tackling the many challenges health professionals across the country are expected to face this year. During the meeting the Secretariat welcomed three new independent unions as members: the...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 by CINDY STEWART recent article in the Globe and Mail (April 7, 2004) is one of the most articulate and succinct defences of our public medicare system I have seen in the mainstream media. Gordon Guyatt, a professor in health sciences at McMaster University in Ontario, takes up a few column inches...

The Report: April / May 2004 vol.25 num.2 by RON OHMART ith contract negotiations in the health care sector getting their fair share of media and public interest in the past few months, there has been an increased awareness and curiosity about HSA’s major collective agreement, the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association contract with the Health Employers Association of BC. The...

The Report: January / February 2004 vol.25 num.1 by CAROL RIVIERE and YUKIE KURAHASHI eniors, their families and the health care workers who provide elder care are becoming increasingly frustrated as the Campbell Liberals continue to make a bewildering number of changes and cuts to seniors care. For most seniors, MSP no longer pays even a portion of the fee...