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October 21, 1998
Nurses Bargaining Association serves strike notice
No major items have been agreed to since August 26. Job action begins on Saturday, October 24, at 1 pm. Contact your steward for details.
Frustrated with the lack of progress at the bargaining table over issues affecting quality patient care and nurses' workload, the Nurses' Bargaining Association today issued 72-hour strike notice to the Health Employers' Association of BC.
No major proposals have been agreed to since the signing off of the classification maintenance process on August 26. There are still 19 outstanding union language proposals on the table, 18 of which would not cost the employer any money. And there has been no progress on our major workload/quality care issues, standardizing provisions to the Provincial Collective Agreement, or Long Term Disability, premiums and car allowance proposals.
HEABC is not taking our quality health care issues seriously. For example, the employer has given the Nurses' Baragaining Association three written proposals which would require us to withdraw our proposal for ratios of nurses to residents in long term care.
he most recent example of HEABC's lack of appreciation of these issues came yesterday (Oct. 20) on the issue of professional development for nurses.
BCNU has proposed that employers provide no fewer than 16 hours of in-service education programs in each calendar year to keep employees updated on changes in health care delivery and career development skills.
HEABC's countered this proposal with the provision of in-service education only if new technology or new work organization is introduced, but not for professional development. And they commented that some areas of nursing, such as long term care and the community, were less likely to need in-services.
In addition, they attached their proposal to a concession demand that nurses attend in-services on their days off at straight time rates. Currently, nurses who attend employer-required in-service training on their days off are paid at overtime rates. HEABC's proposal is that all education will be paid at straight time. HEABC's chief negotiator said that it's part of being a professional to attend education sessions on your day off on straight time pay.
Members of our bargaining committee pointed out that nurses already put in many hours on their own time for education. And that the employers' proposal would mean that nurses would be required to attend courses which do not provide professional development, such as fire extinguisher training, at straight time on their days off.
The negotiations on professional development highlight what HEABC's strategy has been throughout bargaining to date. Any HEABC proposal which even begins to provide a solution to nurses' concerns, has been tied to a major concession item or a takeaway proposal.
HEABC is also saying there is no money to standardize wages and benefits. Instead, they are proposing to level wages and benefits by taking away the current health and welfare benefits of former Public Service and Municipal nurses, and re-allocating the savings.
Given this attitude by the employers the bargaining committee believes it has no alternative but to issue 72-hour strike notice.
Job action begins Saturday with a work-to-rule and a ban on non-nursing duties. For details about job action contact your steward.
(Note: BCNU is the largest of the unions in the Nurses' Bargaining Association, which also includes the Health Sciences Association and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses.)
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