VANCOUVER — Members of British Columbia’s nurses union have voted overwhelmingly to strike after six months of “super frustrating” negotiations that are going nowhere, union president Adriane Gear said Tuesday.

Almost 51,000 of the approximately 55,000 BC Nurses’ Union members voted 98.2 per cent in favour of strike action after talks reached an impasse in April over issues including benefits, pay and staffing shortages.

Gear said as she announced the strike vote that the union had been met by an “employer who has refused to offer any substantive contract improvements or commit to the compensation and funding made available in other public sector contracts.”

“Nurses are a critical part of the health care system, ” she said. “Why should we accept less?”

She said the six months of negotiations with the Health Employers Association of B.C. have been difficult as they proposed and counter proposed 140 items, but have heard back on only 65 and four have been accepted, including correcting a spelling mistake in the collective agreement.

“So, we aren’t getting anywhere,” she said.

Gear said their “next move is to get back to the table.”

While she knows the health employers came to the table with “marching orders,” she said she hopes that the strike vote sends a message to both the employers association and the provincial government.

“It’s time to come to the table and seriously respect nurses.”

The last agreement between the union and the province expired in March 2025.

The vote doesn’t “mean nurses are going on strike tomorrow,” but Gear said it demonstrates that they are united more than ever.

Gear said they are “ready to fight” for an agreement that values and respects them and strengthens public health care.

The union has said there’s an increasing burden on its nurses, with about 4,500 vacant positions that can’t be filled.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press