Timelines for the first transfers of management staff, HEU members of the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA), and members in other health care unions to the new province-wide BC Shared Health Services (BCSHS) agency were announced today.
Employers outlined the following timelines for taking over responsibility for certain health authority operations. On August 17, supply chain will become accountable to BCSHS, then on September 8, both information management and technology, along with accounts payable and receivable, will become accountable to the new agency.
For members, this means on August 17, designated information management and technology workers will be the first to move to BCSHS. Then, in early October, accounts payable and receivable workers will make the transfer, followed by eligible supply chain workers in early November.
Under the FBA collective agreement’s Article 17, the new agency will be required to provide information letters at least 30 days before the final transfer date to affected workers outlining next steps in the process.
“FBA representatives met with Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) over May to continue the work of safeguarding members’ jobs and ensuring health employers meet their collective agreement obligations,” says HEU secretary-business manager Lynn Bueckert. “And while timelines for moving workers to BCSHS are now public, the actual date for transferring affected FBA members must still be determined through further discussions between the two parties.”
To recap, BCSHS was formally established on April 1 to centralize select functions across the province’s health system. As the new agency is part of the Health Employers Association of BC, the transition process is governed by existing public sector health care collective agreements and labour legislation.
“In our discussions, health employers shared a preliminary list of FBA members scheduled to be transferred during phase one and will be providing a full list in the coming weeks,” says Bueckert. “We also flagged some initial issues, in addition to existing contract provisions, that HEABC must address as FBA members go through the transfer process to ensure affected members are protected following the move to the BCSHS.”
Looking forward, the FBA is finalizing work to pull together a group of members who will inform and participate in future discussions with BCSHS. This group will include FBA activists, as well as members involved in the transfer from around the province.
The FBA’s next meeting with health employers to continue discussions on the transfer agreement is on June 4. HEU will continue providing updates to members as the process to establish BCSHS moves ahead.