News & Updates

Gordon Campbell is poisoning labour relations in British Columbia and plunging the province into an era of chaos, say representatives of the BC Government and Service Employees Union, the Hospital Employees Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Health Sciences Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1518.The five unions, all representing workers in health care...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by YUKIE KURAHASHI Wendy Watts was well on her way to becoming a concert pianist when she changed her mind. -I was training for a degree in music, but I had always wanted to be either a counsellor or social worker," she said. -So I thought music therapy was a good combination...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by MAUREEN WHELAN Each year around this time, The Report features an advertisement for the Working Opportunity Fund (WOF) as members gear up to invest in their RRSPs. Some of you may wonder what’s the connection between HSA and WOF. Ten years ago, HSA joined with six other labour organizations to form...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by JEANNE MEYERS What rights do HSA members have to "bump" when faced with a lay-off? An HSA member facing lay-off may be able to -bump" a more junior employee. Many collective agreements clearly indicate that employees affected by lay-off have the right to transfer to jobs held by employees with less...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by MAUREEN ROSS While serving six years on the HSA Board of Directors, I have written a number of these -Across the Province" reports on a variety of subjects. For my final report, I would like to explore with you the history of International Womens Day, celebrated around the world on March...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by CINDY STEWART Throughout the fall, your board of directors hosted the annual regional meetings to hear from the members about your issues and concerns. Following the summer of contract talks, job action and a change in government, the regional meetings were a timely opportunity for all of us to review the...

The Report: January / February 2002 vol.23 num.1 by CAROL RIVIERE, RACHEL NOTLEY, SARAH O'LEARY, with YUKIE KURAHASHI If you suffer a workplace injury or illness, you may soon find that your workers compensation coverage has been abridged and reduced. The provincial Liberals recently launched an extensive review of all WCB functions, including its role in developing and enforcing the...

Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, is supporting complaints against the Government of British Columbia made by the Health Sciences Association of BC to the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the legislation passed in the summer that restricted health science professionals collective bargaining rights and imposed a two-tiered wage contract on the unions representing the 14,000 members."We view...

Today's announcement of a massive restructuring of the system of health care governance in BC is a smokescreen for the Liberal government's real agenda for health care, Health Sciences Association of BC President Cindy Stewart said."The health care system has been through structuring and restructuring for a decade. The centrepiece of our health care system cannot be process. It has...

Cindy Stewart, President of the Health Sciences Association of BC (HSA), said today's failure by the federal government to come through with financial support for health care, combined with recommendations from the provincial legislative standing committee on health paves the way for dramatic health care service cuts in British Columbia."Premier Gordon Campbell will use the federal refusal to increase spending...