Today, the Hospital Employees’ Union Provincial Executive approved moving forward with a strike vote in support of the multi-union Community Bargaining Association (CBA), which includes 2,300 HEU members.
They recommend a YES vote.
On October 3, the CBA reached an impasse with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) after several months of contract talks.
Negotiations soured when HEABC refused to address key bargaining priorities for the community health membership, including the retroactive removal of the Investment Return Guarantee Adjustment (IRGA); the expansion of overtime by seniority; securing fixed shifts and breaks for community health workers (CHWs); adjusting the wages, shift premiums, vacation, and other monetary entitlements to the same rates as other HEABC health care workers doing the same work.
Details about the strike vote, including voting instructions and dates, will be emailed to HEU’s CBA members next week.
In order to receive an electronic ballot to cast a vote, which will be conducted online through the Simply Voting platform, HEU must have a current email address for all members.
Please encourage your colleagues to update their contact information through HEU’s website.
At the CBA bargaining table, committee members Nicole Russell, Lisa Bouma and Donna Zmaeff represent HEU’s community health members, along with servicing representatives Brenda Brown and Tasha Whenham.
The Community Bargaining Association includes BCGEU (the lead), CUPE, HEU (2,300 members), UFCW, HSA, BCNU, and USW, covering 23,000 health care workers across the province.