NBA, HEABC strike framework agreement
The Nurses' Bargaining Association has reached a Framework Agreement with the Health Employers Association of BC, which stipulates how bargaining discussions will be conducted this summer.
Aimed at bringing stability to BCs health sector, the agreement states that there will be no rollbacks in nurses' hourly rates, benefits or time off provisions and that there will be no increase in total compensation.
Under the Framework Agreement, a series of high level nursing policy discussions will take place in June involving the provincial Ministry of Health Services, HEABC and representatives of nursing unions. These discussions will deal with some of the key professional practice concerns of Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses about ways to improve patient care by addressing issues confronting the nursing workforce during the continuing shortage of nurses.
Those issues involve recommendations from the Canadian Nursing Advisory Committee, which targeted the nursing shortage and addressed other key problems undermining nurses ability to provide safe, quality care. The 2002 CNAC report was sponsored by the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health.
The high level discussions, to be chaired by Anne Sutherland Boal, BC's Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Services for Clinical Innovation and Integration, will discuss increasing the number of full-time nursing positions, improving the shift scheduling system, phased retirement, finding full time jobs for new graduate nurses and nurses' hours of work.
The policy teams will make recommendations to the bargaining committees of HEABC and the Nurses' Bargaining Association. The NBA consists of the BC Nurses' Union, the Health Sciences Association and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses.
Following these policy discussions, the NBA and HEABC will bargain a short list of issues in July: renewal of the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH); long-term disability supplementary benefit; mileage for community nurses; and displacement, placement in vacancies and bumping.
If the Nurses Bargaining Association and the HEABC can agree to solutions on these issues, they will form part of a new collective agreement which will run until March 31, 2006. If no agreements are reached, the current contract will continue in effect until March 31, 2006.
Whatever is finally decided on, any or all of these issues will be sent out for a NBA membership vote during the last two weeks of September.
The Framework Agreement guarantees the public that the health care system will not suffer disruptions from nurses' bargaining this summer, and it also gives nurses an assurance that their working conditions will be the priority to be discussed during bargaining discussions.
What could be even more important for the future is that health employers have agreed to discuss four major policy areas which the Canadian Nursing Advisory Committee have identified as being important to dealing with the nursing shortage.
Currently less than 40 per cent of nursing jobs in BC are full time and 30 per cent are casual. This increases the workload for full-time nurses.
Nurses also do not get to choose whether they want to have the same days off each week, whether they want to work extended shifts or regular shifts, or whether they want to work nights or evenings or days.
New nurses cannot get full time jobs and have to work casual. Meanwhile, older nurses working full time should be encouraged to stay in the workforce by working part time, while retaining full-time pension contributions. These two issues are crucial to ensuring there are enough nurses over the next few years as baby boomers retire from the nursing workforce.
The bargaining association is pleased that HEABC has made a serious commitment to address these issues.
HSA is represented on the NBA bargaining committee by Audrey MacMillan, an RPN and HSA Regional Director for Region 7, and Kathy McLennan, Senior Labour Relations Officer. About 700 HSA members who work as RPNs are covered by the agreement.