This fall, all members in the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association will have the opportunity to help modernize the healthcare system, ensure your role in that system is clearly recognized, and confirm that you are paid for the full range of the work you do.
Health science professionals work in over 70 different professions. The work is complex and becomes more complex with each passing year.
But for many of BC’s health science professionals, the current classification system has not kept pace with the change in their work.
For over twenty years, previous governments have refused to modernize the classification system. In the last round of bargaining, however, the HSPBA and the current government struck an agreement to complete the design and implementation of the new profile-based redesigned classification system.
Why this matters
Your wage is determined by your classification. Your classification is determined by the health science profession you belong to, and the level of duties and responsibilities of your job. A good classification system keeps pace with the ever-changing ways in which the healthcare system is structured and delivers care. It also ensures that your role in that system is clearly recognized and that you are paid for the full scope of the work you do.
The classification structures have been mostly unchanged since 1990, despite the fact that your work has become more complex and acute. In some cases, there aren’t enough classification/pay levels, leaving health science professionals stuck with little room for career advancement. In other cases, members are paid less than colleagues performing work of the same scope and level of responsibility. The classification system needs to be updated to apply uniformly to workers across the full spectrum of health science professionals to reflect the reality of the healthcare system as a whole.
The bottom line is this: While the healthcare system has become much more complex in the last thirty years and continues to evolve, the system that determines your rate of pay has not kept up. Improvements to the classification system will deliver overdue recognition of specialized work and, perhaps more importantly, create a foundation that can support new levels of specialization as health science professions continue to develop. This means that the system will be able to assign the appropriate level of pay proactively, not reactively.
Who is affected?
All members who work in health science professions under the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA)
How do I know if I am included?
You can contact the union to confirm that you are or are not a member under the HSPBA.
When does this happen?
Employers are currently compiling job descriptions for all HSPBA members and will provide these to you directly in the early fall. While the timing is up to individual employers, they are required to do this by no later than September 22.
What do I need to do?
For now, nothing. The first step will be taken by the employer, who will be preparing to provide you with your job description and notification of what classification profile they’ve assigned to your job. They will provide this to you directly by September 22, 2023.
Between September 22 and November 15, you’ll need to fill out forms provided by CUPE. These will guide you through the assessment of your job to determine if the employer has assigned your job to the right classification profile.
If the employer has misclassified your job, the union will advocate for assignment to the correct classification profile starting in late November.
What are the Next Steps?
CUPE will be providing more information to all HSPBA members later this summer. In the meantime, please ensure that your contact information is correct, and encourage your worksite colleagues to be sure that your Local Union has their contact information as well.