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Nurses in B.C. could be headed for job action following an “overwhelming” strike vote over the weekend.
According to the B.C. Nurses’ Union, more than 50,000 nurses voted 98.2 per cent in favour of job action, after six months of bargaining.
The union says it’s the strongest strike mandate in its history.
“This vote is a defining moment,” union president Adriane Gear said in a news release. “Nurses across British Columbia are demanding the respect, safety and fair contract they deserve.”
In its new contract, the union wants to see systemic risks minimized, to mitigate pressures nurses face — like unsafe staffing levels, workplace violence and heavy workloads.
Nurses in this province could go on strike as early as the middle of May as contract negotiations with the Health Employers’ Association of B.C. reached an impasse last week. Now nurses are set to take a strike vote. CBC’s Meera Bains reports from a rally held by the B.C. Nurses’ Union in Vancouver where participants called for safer working conditions and better benefits.
The results of the vote do not mean nurses will strike imminently, but that they are now legally allowed to take some form of job action as negotiations continue.
“Nurses do not want to be in this position,” Gear said.
“Yet they are prepared to fight for the future of nursing and for a health-care system that is safe, sustainable and able to retain the nurses that patients rely on.”
The union said negotiations broke down on April 20.
In an emailed statement to CBC News, the Health Employees Association of B.C. (HEABC), the group bargaining with the union on behalf of most publicly-funded health providers in B.C., said negotiations resumed Tuesday.
“HEABC believes that negotiations are best kept to the bargaining table where the parties can work together on solutions that are mutually beneficial and support the government’s and employers’ key priorities,” an association representative said.
In an emailed statement, Health Minister Josie Osborne said the province had recently reached a tentative agreement with the Doctors of B.C., and ratified agreements with the Health Sciences Association and Hospital Employees’ Union.
“In the event of any job action, essential services plans are in place to help ensure the continued delivery of services and essential care for people,” she said.
Critic highlights lack of safety
The strike vote comes as B.C. continues to grapple with a health-care crisis that has lasted for years.
Anna Kindy, MLA for North Island and the B.C. Conservatives’ health critic, said that closures in emergency departments were a result of inadequate staffing among nurses.
She said that the B.C. government was pushing to recruit nurses, but not doing enough to address their safety concerns.
“We need to address this issue in the context of a health-care crisis … getting assaulted in the hospital or getting punched in the face is not a way of retaining your nurses,” she said.
Nurses in B.C. have voted 98 per cent in favour of job action following a strike vote. The B.C. Nurses’ Union said more than 50,000 of its members cast ballots after talks with their employer broke down last month. Union president Adriane Gear said nurses are struggling with burn out and violence.
Emily Lowan, the leader of the B.C. Green Party, said the province wasn’t working hard enough to establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios that were negotiated with the union.
Lowan said the NDP government had “hollowed out support for nurses” by spending over half a billion dollars on private nursing contracts in the last two years.
“If health authorities and government are willing to spend this kind of money on for-profit private nursing services, why wouldn’t we want to invest in the nurses that are already here in B.C., actually improve their working conditions with good benefits and staff-to-patient ratios?” she asked.
