Around 55,000 B.C. nurses will begin voting Friday on whether to go on strike after talks between their union and the province broke down.
In April, the BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) declared having reached an impasse with the employer, represented by the Health Employers’ Association of BC, and it’s intention to allow members to vote on strike action between May 8 and May 11.
Union President Adriane Gear says nurses are primed and ready for the vote.
“They understand the issues. And anecdotally, certainly the vibe is that people are in support of backing the bargaining committee, and I anticipate a strong strike vote response,” Gear told 1130 NewsRadio.
She says the union is seeking improved benefits, and wage increases, among approximately 140 bargaining proposals.
“We’ve heard back on 65 of them; only four have been accepted. So after six months of being at the table, only being able to agree on four proposals is not progress. So that’s a concern,” said Gear.
“We want the opportunity to bargain, and then we need to have improved collaboration in terms of some of the other bargaining proposals that we have proposed and are not hearing positive responses on. These are proposals that relate to workload, violence prevention, improving the working conditions of nurses, which are the conditions of care. And so we need movement on all of those things.”
The vote, she explained, sets the union up for legal job action. Gear says withdrawing labour while the province faces a health-care crisis is the last thing nurses want.
“If that happens, that’s because the government has put us there. And so we are willing to return to the table, providing the employer is going to come to the table with a willingness to negotiate benefits to guarantee that we will have access to the same money as other public sector unions, and a willingness to work towards agreeing on bargaining proposals that will improve the working conditions of nurses and improve patient care.”
Gear says a strike would be an “extraordinary step” not taken in 25 years. In that time, she says nurses have been holding the health-care system together through the COVID-19 pandemic, and while facing staggering rates of workplace violence.
Last week, Premier David Eby said he’s confident that his government will “find a path forward” with the union and looks forward to a resolution as soon as possible.
“We will ensure that it is a respectful agreement that reflects the hard work that nurses do, and respectful of the financial position of the province and our ability to pay for those critical public services like health care,” said Eby.
—With files from Ben Bouguerra