News & Updates

Elisabeth Ballermann has been named Co-chair of the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat (CHPS), a national advocacy body that represents more than 60,000 health science professionals in more than 100 disciplines. These workers deliver the diagnostic, clinical and rehabilitation services essential to timely and quality health care. The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) created the CHPS to help...

-The government has heard, but the real test is whether they will listen to the thousands of British Columbians who said through the Conversation on Health that they value our public health care system," Leslie Dickout, Medicare campaigner for the B.C. Health Coalition said today in response to the release of the Conversation on Health summary report. The key message...

A tentative agreement for a new contract was reached this week between Health Sciences Association of BC and CML Healthcare. Details of the proposed agreement, as well as a vote on whether to accept the contract, will be held Monday December 10 in the Lower Mainland, and Tuesday December 11 on Vancouver Island. The information and ratification vote meetings will...

World AIDS Day, observed Dec. 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the global AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. This year the World AIDS day theme, STOP AIDS, Keep the Promise, has special resonance in Canada, where the Harper government appears to be wavering on a key domestic funding promise and leadership on the...

The BC government is once again poised to conclude another session of the legislature without taking action to resolve seniors health care concerns. One year ago, Patricia Baird tabled the Premiers Council on Aging and Seniors report, Aging Well in BC*, which was commissioned by the BC government to provide recommendations on how BC can best meet the needs of...

OTTAWA — To mark National Medicare Week, November 18-24, the Canadian Health Coalition and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are launching a new book entitled Medicare: Facts, Myths, Problems, Promise. The book is based on contributions to a remarkable conference ... S.O.S. Medicare 2: Looking Forward. The conference, held at the University of Regina, was inspired by Tommy Douglas...

After the deadline for nominations passed at a meeting November 19 with only one nomination, Faith Uchida has been acclaimed as the HSA Chief Steward at Vancouver Hospital for the term of one year. As a result, the scheduled voting will not be held November 21.

I want to share with you our latest effort in the Campaign to increase BC's minimum wage and win a long overdue pay raise for 250,000 low paid workers. $10 NOW: BC Workers Need a Raise is a short video piece where working people talk about why our minimum wage needs to be increased. It's just been posted on You...

HSA members at Vancouver General Hospital are encouraged to participate in the election of a chief steward, assistant chief stewards, occupational health and safety stewards and general stewards. In order to allow as much participation as possible, two days have been set for voting: Date: Monday, November 19Time: 12 noon - 12:30 p.m. - nominations of stewards 12:30 - 1:30...

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has released the fifth and sixth in its ongoing series of Pensions Backgrounders. The publications are designed for union activists seeking educational material to build their knowledge base and skill level around critical issues in the field of pensions. How Much Pension will an Individual Need? examines how much income an...