The Health Science Professional Bargaining Association (HSPBA) resumed talks last week with the Health Employers’ Association of BC (HEABC). Discussions are scheduled to continue this week and next.
Negotiations are currently focussed on non-monetary matters, but during the last round of talks ending April 14, HSPBA proposed wage increases needed to make meaningful improvements to professional shortages, workload, the rising cost of living and the wage gap with other provinces. The proposal seeks a two-year agreement with a wage increase of 5 per cent—or COLA (cost of living adjustment), whichever is greater—in each of the two years.
HSPBA has also proposed a number of other measures that would bring greater equality to job classifications across different health science professions in B.C. and greater comparability to pay in other provinces, improve on call and call-backs, improve overtime pay and shift premiums, provide more funding for professional development, improve vacation and holiday leave, paid and unpaid pandemic leave, and provide a bank of paid time for gender-affirming surgeries.
We expect HEABC to provide a response to the wage proposal during this round, and we will provide an update at that time.
Meanwhile, pleasure ensure that your contact information is up to date. If your address or other information has changed, you can update it at: https://forms.office.com/r/mXDGtvAhWb.