This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
"We are in a challenging bargaining climate, and we are in for a difficult round of negotiations,” Meyers said.
Vancouver (28 Feb. 2012) - Bargaining for a new collective agreement for B.C.’s 17,000 health science professionals got underway on Feb. 27 in Vancouver. The Health Sciences Association of B.C. (HSABC/NUPGE) is the lead union in the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA).
“Health science professionals are looking for fairness and respect: fair, respectful, and meaningful collective bargaining; and fair recognition of the role health science professionals play in the modern health care system,” said Reid Johnson, HSABC President, in opening the talks with Health Employers’ Association of B.C.
“HSPBA’s objective is to arrive at a collective agreement that optimizes the quality of patient care. We are looking for a contract that properly values the work of health science professionals on the modern health care team, ends the reliance on employees’ subsidization of optimal delivery of care, and regains and maintains the competitive edge needed to attract and retain the best and the brightest,” he said.
HSPBA’s chief negotiator Jeanne Meyers said the unions represented in the association – HSABC/NUPGE, BCGEU/NUPGE, CUPE, PEA, and HEU – are approaching the negotiations with a commitment to achieve improvements for members that help retain and recruit health science professionals who are critical to the success of the modern health care team, but that negotiations will be in a very difficult climate.
“The government’s budget released last week grossly under-budgets the needs for growing demands on our health care system. It’s clear that the employer is at the table with very little support from government to address a continuing crisis of demand for health care services and recruitment and retention of highly sought-after health science professionals. We are in a challenging bargaining climate, and we are in for a difficult round of negotiations,” Meyers said.
After a short introductory meeting yesterday, the parties return to the table today, and are scheduled to meet through the week.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE