VANCOUVER — Nurses in British Columbia started targeted job action at work sites across the province on Thursday in an effort to push to government to improve its offer to union members, the British Columbia Nurses’ Union said.

Nurses stopped working non-essential overtime and won’t be doing non-nursing duties such as answering phones, processing doctors’ orders and cleaning, while the employers’ association said negotiations would resume next week.

The BC Nurses’ Union is legally classified as an essential service. The provincial Labour Relations Board has set out minimum staffing levels to ensure patient care and to allow emergency services to continue.

The union, which represents 60,000 British Columbia nurses, issued the 72-hour strike notice on Monday, days after its members voted to reject a tentative contract deal bargained with the provincial health employer in May.

The union said in a statement that its job action is the result of the B.C. government failing to meaningfully respond to nurses’ concerns.

“This marks the first phase of a broader escalation plan that could expand in the coming days if the government does not return to the bargaining table with an offer nurses can accept,” the statement said.

In an interview before the deadline on Thursday, BCNU president Adriane Gear said the union hasn’t had formal negotiations with the Health Employers Association of B.C. since May.

But the association said it’s coming back to the bargaining table.

“The parties will resume negotiations starting early next week to address the issues that both parties believe are important. 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,” it said in an emailed statement Thursday.

The province wants to give both parties space to come to an agreement, Health Minister Josie Osborne said in an emailed statement Thursday.

“We respect the rights of all workers to bargain collectively, including the decision by union members to take job action,” she said.

Gear said the union doesn’t plan to withdraw workers in the first phase of its job action.

“We will be in a position where we can legally withdraw labour while maintaining essential service levels. But that’s not something that we are going to do today,” she said on Thursday.

Gear said the job action is designed to put pressure on the employer and not patients and will not affect essential services.

“Could there be some disruption? There could be, but our hope is to minimize that,” she said.

Gear added that the lack of an agreement has created uncertainty for patients, but she hopes British Columbians can understand and support nurses in the meantime.

“We’ve been there for our patients and we hope that the public will be there for us right now. We need your support,” Gear said.

She said the union is ready to return to the bargaining table at a moment’s notice.

The tentative agreement rejected by union members offered a 12-per-cent wage increase over four years and other improved benefits.

The union said the rejection was a message from nurses about the frustration they feel over the pressures on their profession and the health-care system.

Gear has said those pressures include staffing shortages, unmanageable workloads and workplace violence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press