President's Message

Solidarity Remains Our Greatest Strength 

BC's nurses are making history.

When nurses began job action, we did so knowing this would not be an easy road. We took this step because every other avenue had been exhausted, and because the issues facing our profession had become impossible to ignore.

I have joined nurses on picket lines at hospitals across Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. I have seen the determination, courage, and unwavering commitment that defines this profession. Thousands of nurses have shown up before sunrise, after a shift, or throughout the night, not because they wanted to be on a picket line, but because they know our patients, our profession and the future of public health care are worth fighting for.

I could not be more proud.

What has happened over the past two weeks has been extraordinary.

Our fight has resonated far beyond British Columbia. Nurses’ unions from across Canada have UNITED with us. We've received messages of encouragement from nurses around the world. Our allies in the labour movement have rallied beside us, with the BC Federation of Labour, the Hospital Employees' Union, the Health Sciences Association, the BC General Employees Union, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and so many other unions joining our picket lines, lending their voices and reminding us that when workers are united, we win.

That solidarity has been the fuel behind this fight.

We've also seen incredible support from the public. More than 17,000 people have already joined our letter-writing campaign, and that number continues to grow every day. People have visited our picket lines with coffee, food, and signs. They’ve honked their horns and emailed us words of encouragement. Our message—that nurses deserve safe workplaces and patients deserve safe care—has reached people across the province through extensive daily media coverage and we know that in communities large and small, there is a conversation underway around what it’s going to take to protect our health-care system.

British Columbians understand what nurses have been saying for years: this fight is about building a health-care system that is safe, sustainable and able to deliver the care every patient deserves.

At the same time, I know this fight has also been incredibly difficult for many members.

Thousands of nurses have reported intimidation, coercion and interference with their lawful job action in the form of a ban on non-nursing duties and overtime restrictions. We've heard from almost 4,500 members who have been threatened with discipline, pressured to perform work that undermines job action, and even told their nursing licenses could be at risk for exercising their legal rights. That is completely unacceptable. Employers have also reassigned these duties to other unionized health-care worker colleagues, already managing heavy workloads, instead of completing these tasks themsleves.

We are fighting against this shameful behaviour at the labour board, and I urge members to fill out the Defending our Job Action reporting form if they experience intimidation. 

Every BCNU member has the legal right to participate in lawful job action and to advocate for better working conditions and safer patient care. Attempts to intimidate nurses into silence have no place in our health-care system. Rather than weakening our resolve, these actions have only reinforced why this fight matters so deeply.

On Friday, July 10, the government appointed special mediators. While this represents a positive step, it is important to remember how we got here. Mediation did not happen on its own. It happened because tens of thousands of nurses joined together, because members refused to accept the status quo, and because your advocacy made it impossible for government and employers to continue ignoring the issues driving this dispute.

We enter mediation with cautious hope and remain committed to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that meaningfully addresses staffing shortages, workplace violence, fair compensation and the growing pressures facing our profession. But hope alone will not resolve this dispute. What nurses need—and what patients deserve—is meaningful movement at the bargaining table.

Until that happens, our solidarity remains our greatest strength.

History is not made in a single day. It is built by thousands of people making the difficult decision to be united, day after day, for something bigger than themselves.

That is exactly what BC's nurses have done.

Congratulations to each of you for the courage and determination you have shown throughout this job action. Thank you for continuing this fight for our profession, for our patients, and for the future of public health care.

Together, we are demonstrating to this province that when nurses unite, we have the power to make health care better not only for ourselves, but for every person who depends on our public health-care system.

In solidarity,

Adriane Gear
President, BC Nurses' Union