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November 12, 2002
Nurses at work sites across the province have still not received the wage increase that was due April 1, 2002
The Liberal government imposed a collective agreement August 2001 which included wage increases for April 2002, yet many facilities have still not paid. The Liberal government has refused to provide proper funding for the increase. Nurses at 48 work sites are impacted by this action.
Nurses in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) catchment area have expressed particular concern about this issue and are working on a campaign to get their direct employers to pay. To date there are 11 facilities in the VCHA that have not paid the increase.
The government imposed wage increase has negatively impacted many long-term care facilities, which are affiliates to the Health Authorities. The affiliates who receive their funding directly from the government through the Health Authorities have not received proper funding to accommodate the increase. The affiliates received only 70 percent of the funding necessary to pay the April 1, 2002 wage increase from the government.
Each affiliate has been expected to makeup the other 30 percent.
In mid April, single employer policy grievances were filed at each of the facilities that had not paid and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) filed an industry wide application dispute (IWAD).
On May 17 letters were sent by the government through the Health Employers Association BC (HEABC) to the facilities stating that they must implement the wage increase immediately. To date a few have paid the increase with interest, while others have paid only 70 percent of the increase.
The industry wide application dispute has subsequently been committed to arbitration and will be heard in front of a single arbitrator April 17, 2003.
There is a rumour that some facilities are now talking about suing the Liberal government for not properly funding the imposed collective agreement which included the wage increase.
Nurses throughout the province should be advocating on behalf of those nurses who haven’t been paid yet and demanding that this dispute be settled immediately.
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