Year: 2025

CBA Bargaining Update

Your CUPE delegates, along with the delegates of the six other constituent unions in the CBA, have spent 16 days at the bargaining table with HEABC. Although we have had a full exchange of non-monetary proposals, we have made very little progress outside of administrative updates to the agreement.

Our goal is to make progress on the priorities you identified – this includes improving overtime language, enhancing mobility between employers, and ensuring language that is equal to that of workers covered under the FBA Collective Agreement.

Your committee is frustrated with the lack of progress and does not believe any meaningful momentum will be achieved during our remaining dates in July. Therefore, we have cancelled the remaining five days and informed HEABC that we will have to reconvene in September.

Although we have not yet begun discussing monetary proposals at the table, HEABC presented some monetary proposals on June 25, including those related to wages and low compensation redress. They are similar proposals that have been tabled at other provincial public sector bargaining tables.

Please note that this is the opening proposal, and it has not been accepted. However, we want to ensure you’re aware of the offer that was made — and to assure you that we know it falls short of addressing the priorities members like you have consistently raised.

The HEABC tabled monetary proposals include a proposed two-year agreement with the following General Wage Increase (GWI):

Year 1: The employer proposed two options for year one of the GWI: 

Option A

  • April 1, 2025: increase rates of pay by 0.5% plus $0.15 per hour
  • October 1, 2025: increase rates of pay by 0.5% plus $0.15 per hour

Option B

  • April 1, 2025: increase rates of pay by 0.75%
  • October 1, 2025: increase rates of pay by 0.75%

Year 2: 

  • April 1, 2026: increase rates of pay by 1.0%
  • October 1, 2026: increase rates of pay by 1.0%

It’s important to emphasize that this is the opening proposal, and it has not been accepted. This offer falls far short of recent wage settlements reached by CUPE locals across our province.

We have reiterated to the employer that any path to a tentative agreement must include a monetary offer that meaningfully addresses the affordability crisis facing public sector workers. We know from the last round of provincial negotiations that collective bargaining is a process, and that there is still plenty of work to be done before we reach a tentative agreement.

Your resolve and support are crucial to achieving positive results at the bargaining table, particularly in relation to non-monetary language and your rights under the collective agreement.

Please ensure that your contact information is up-to-date with your local. You can look forward to hearing from your committee when we resume bargaining in the fall.

 

In solidarity,

Your Community Bargaining Association (CBA) Negotiating Committee

HSPBA Bargaining Update: bargaining committee wraps third round of talks

The Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) bargaining committee has completed the third round of negotiations with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC), held May 20-23.

To date, the bargaining committee has tabled more than 50 proposals, each of which is based on specific ideas submitted by members and prioritized in discussions last fall. Bargaining committee members are working to make progress at both the main table, and in small table discussions focusing on key issue areas.

Bargaining committee members come from a range of professions and bring a diversity of perspective and experience to the discussions, ensuring the needs of all professions are being addressed. The HSPBA joint bargaining committee includes representatives from unions covered by the collective agreement, including CUPE, HEU, HSA, BCGEU and PEA. While the economic landscape is challenging, the committee is dedicated to securing the improvements needed to address critical issues like shortages, fair pay, and improved care for patients and clients.

Bargaining is set to resume June 16-20.

HSPBA Negotiations Update: Second session of talks complete

The bargaining committee for Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) contract members has wrapped up three days of negotiations with the employer running April 22-25. This is the second round of talks with the employer.

Negotiations first began in March. At this early stage, talks are focusing on non-monetary priority areas, and we are making progress. More substantive subjects like pay and benefits are usually tackled near the end of the negotiating process, which can take many months, and in extraordinary circumstances, longer than a year.

Given the economic uncertainty caused by the global trade war, we expect the negotiations to proceed slowly in the coming months. The committee is working to achieve a deal as soon as possible and is resolute in its determination to secure terms that recognize the value of your work.

The next session of negotiation meetings is scheduled for May 23-25. We will provide the next update at that time.

What are the bargaining committee’s priorities?

Negotiations are guided by input from the union membership. Last year, members from CUPE and the other constituent unions across all professions and regions submitted hundreds of bargaining proposals, and elected delegates carefully prioritized these.  These priorities are guiding your elected bargaining committee.

New Mental Health Support Fund to Top Up Benefits

A new Mental Health Support Fund is now available to help Health Science Professional Bargaining Association (HSPBA) members.

Your union has negotiated this funding with the BC government as part of our ongoing work to provide greater support for members, especially for those dealing with the impact of significant shortages and excessive workload. This one-time $11 million grant through BC’s Ministry of Health will fund up to $5000 worth of enhanced mental health and wellness support for HSPBA members like you.

The fund will be available to members as supplementary benefits as part of the Joint Health Science Benefits Trust (JHSBT), which provides health benefits to HSPBA members – essentially raising the limit on benefits to allow more time with psychologists, clinical counsellors, online cognitive behavioural therapy and social workers, and adding coverage for dietitians for the duration of the fund.

The fund is open to all HSPBA members who are regular full-time, regular part-time, and casual employees covered by benefits. It does not extend to spouses, dependents or other family members.

BENEFITS ELIGIBLE FOR TOP UP

The fund will top up your coverage by up to $5000 over the lifetime of the fund for the following supplemental benefits:

  • Psychology benefit enhancement: Registered social workers will be added as an ongoing approved service provider under the existing $900 annual psychology benefit of the JHSBT plan effective June 1, 2025. For claims incurred between April 1, 2025 and May 31, 2025, please see the information below about that reimbursement process.
  • Psychology top up: Once a member reaches the $900 per calendar year combined maximum psychology benefit, they will have access to an additional $1,100 per calendar year combined maximum at 100% reimbursement, subject to Pacific Blue Cross’s reasonable and customary limits, for registered social workers, registered clinical counsellors, registered psychologists, and online cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) programs available through Pacific Blue Cross. The HSA supplementary top-up will be available effective April 1, 2025.
  • For claims made between April 1 and May 31, 2025 only: During the months of April and May 2025, the HSA supplementary psychology benefit will be available to members through an interim reimbursement arrangement with the Healthcare Benefit Trust.  For more information about claims made April 1, 2025 – May 31, 2025, please email HSPBA.SupportFund@hbt.ca.
  • For claims made June 1, 2025 onward: Effective June 1, 2025, the HSA supplementary psychology coverage may be accessed by submitting receipts for reimbursement to Pacific Blue Cross as per the usual claims process.
  • Registered Dietitian: $600 per calendar year at 100% reimbursement and no annual deductible, subject to Pacific Blue Cross’s reasonable and customary limits, effective April 1, 2025, and submitted to Pacific Blue Cross via the usual claims process.

There is more information, including a list of Frequently Asked Questions, available on the CUPE Healthcare website.

HOW TO APPLY

You do not need to apply to access this funding. Simply claim your benefits mostly as usual, with the exception of benefits in April and May of this year.

  • Claims made for benefits during April and May 2025 will have to be submitted to the Healthcare Benefit Trust.  For more information about claims made April 1, 2025 – May 31, 2025, please email HSPBA.SupportFund@hbt.ca.
  • Starting June 1, 2025, you can claim as usual through Pacific Blue Cross. The additional funding will allow you to claim more time with the professionals listed above.

HOW LONG WILL THE FUNDING BE AVAILABLE?

The $11 million in funding will be available to top up benefits starting April 1 and will remain available until individual members have incurred $5,000 in supplementary benefit claims, or all funding is depleted.

When the funding is depleted, coverage levels will return to the current limits. The registered dietitian benefit will only be available for the duration of the fund, after which that coverage will be discontinued.

Bargaining underway, working through dozens of proposals

The CBA Bargaining Committee met for six days over the past two weeks with the Health Employers’ Association of BC (HEABC) to begin the process of renewing our collective agreement.

We have tabled substantial proposal packages related to non-monetary items and health and safety. We have been able to reach agreement on a number of administrative changes to the agreement and are actively working on dozens of other proposals.

Your desire for fair wages, benefit improvements, and mental health supports remains our focus along with general parity with other health care workers.

We are scheduled to meet again with HEABC in the first week of April and we will continue to update you as this process unfolds.

In solidarity,

Your Community Bargaining Association (CBA) Negotiating Committee

Bargaining your new collective agreement starts today!

After months of preparation, today we begin bargaining our next collective agreement – the contract that outlines our wages, working conditions and more. Our current collective agreement expires on March 31, 2025.

Last spring, CUPE members responded to our bargaining survey with your priorities. Then, on May 27th, delegates from our health sector met to review the survey results and develop priorities for this round of negotiations. These include things like improved scheduling, workload, and health and safety. Monetary priorities include wage & benefit improvements, including mental health supports.

Finally, over the past several weeks, your Community Bargaining Association (CBA) Negotiating Committee has been hard at work preparing our proposal package. That’s what we brought to the employer – the Health Employers’ Association of BC (HEABC) – at the bargaining table today.

Fair wages, benefit improvements and mental health support are our top bargaining issues. Given the current economic situation, we expect a more difficult round of bargaining and that’s why it’s going to take all of us working together to reach our goals. At the end of the day, the most powerful tool that we have as a bargaining committee is an organized membership ready to take action in support of our work at the bargaining table.

Please watch your emails for bargaining updates or check our website at bcchs.cupe.ca. If you have coworkers not receiving email updates, please share these updates and get them to update their contact information with your local

This month we are at the table March 4-6 and then again March 11-13, 2025. More dates will be set throughout the spring and summer.

And remember, it’s not just us bargaining this round. Tens of thousands of other CUPE members from the K-12 sector, Community Social Services, Universities and Colleges, in the public sectors of British Columbia are also negotiating new agreements.

It’s a big year for our union – our collective power will make us strong and see us through!

In solidarity,

Your Community Bargaining Association (CBA) Negotiating Committee