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

More CUPE members now covered by WorkSafeBC mental-health presumption

The BC Ministry of Labour added 11 new occupations to the mental-health presumption under the Workers Compensation Act this week. This will allow more CUPE members faster access to treatment and workers compensation benefits for psychological injuries.

The newly added occupations include:

  • Harm-reduction workers
  • Respiratory therapists
  • Shelter workers
  • Social workers
  • Transition house workers
  • Victim service workers
  • Withdrawal management workers

The mental health presumption fast-tracks the claims process with WorkSafeBC. This provides workers faster access to treatment and workers’ compensation benefits once a formal diagnosis of the psychological injury has been made. These changes will help ensure the workers who are counted on to care for others also receive the support they need.

Most of the occupations now covered are well defined. For further clarity, Harm-reduction worker means a worker whose duties include, for the purpose of reducing the risk of toxic drug poisoning and other drug-related harms, supporting and monitoring persons who consume drugs, and who work primarily in one or more of the following:

  • The community
  • Residential facilities or units in which supportive housing services are provided
  • Premises used to provide public health interventions, including sites commonly known as safe consumption sites, or at which other types of overdose prevention services are provided

While all workers can be exposed to a traumatic event or events and sustain a psychological injury, members who work in occupations recognized with the WorkSafeBC presumption have a disproportionate level of sustaining these injuries.

Work still needs to be done to create psychologically healthy workplaces in the health and social services sectors. While CUPE continues to fight for the safety of all workers, we recognize these changes by the Ministry of Labour will provide much needed support for workers who experience psychological injuries.

In solidarity,

Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator

CUPE holds successful 2024 Health Sector Bargaining Conference

CUPE held its health sector bargaining conference on May 22, 2024, where delegates from all five locals with healthcare members elected Bargaining Representatives. The following members have been elected:

CBA
Andy Healey, Bargaining Representative
Dylan Webb, Bargaining Representative
Bobby Burges, Alternate Bargaining Representative

HSPBA
Brian Moore, Bargaining Representative
Sarah Walker, Bargaining Representative
Brent Nixon, Alternative Bargaining Representative

Delegates heard presentations from the BC Health Coalition, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, CUPE BC Secretary-Treasurer Trevor Davies and CUPE Regional Director Martina Boyd. CUPE Researcher Stephen Elliott-Buckley reviewed the 2024 Bargaining Survey, and then delegates reviewed the survey results specific to their Collective Agreement.

Based on the survey results and discussions in their groups, priorities were identified, and those will be developed into bargaining proposals over the coming months.

Members covered by the Nurses Bargaining Association Collective Agreement will meet later in the year to discuss priorities for the next round of bargaining.

There will be further updates as we get closer to the expiry of the current collective agreements.

We thank all delegates for their participation and congratulate the members who have been elected as Bargaining Representatives.

In solidarity,

Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator

Ministry Funding for Health Sector

Greetings CUPE CBA and HSPBA Members,

This past week, the provincial government announced new initiatives aimed at tackling retention and recruitment issues in the healthcare sector and expanding healthcare services to rural and remote communities.

  1. Incentives for workers living and working in rural and remote communities will increase.
  2. The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) and the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) will receive another $20 million to fund professional development and mental health and wellness support for its members.

Our membership has called on the government to take action on these issues for years. While more changes are needed to create the healthcare system we want, this announcement reminds us that our continued advocacy is making a difference.

In the coming weeks, our union will be seeking further details about these initiatives, how they will be implemented and how workers can access them. Please watch for those updates.

You can read the full press release from the Ministry of Health here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024HLTH0054-000666

 

In solidarity,

Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator

Your voice matters! The CUPE Health Sector Bargaining Survey is now open

Hello CUPE HSPBA and CBA members,

The current HSPBA and CBA Collective Agreements expire on March 31, 2025, and we need to hear from you as we look towards the next round of collective bargaining.

Your voice matters! Take a few moments to help shape our collective future by completing the online bargaining survey today.

The survey will be open from March 26th to April 5th. Let’s work together to ensure your priorities are heard.

HSPBA and CBA members to receive the maximum cost of living increase this year

Negotiated inflation-protection measures will trigger a full 3.0% increase this year.

British Columbia inflation data released this week confirm that the maximum wage protections in the 2022-2025 HSPBA and CBA collective agreements will be triggered, and members will receive a full 3.0% wage increase starting April 1, 2024.

For most members, this brings the total general wage increase for the three years of the agreement to nearly 14%.

The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was negotiated as part of the current collective agreements and ratified by members in December, 2022. It is based on the annualized average monthly BC Consumer Price Index value over the 12 months leading up to March. The current agreements expire on March 31, 2025, and planning for the upcoming round of negotiations has already begun.

In solidarity,

Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator

CBA Health Authority Mobility Update

Over the last few weeks, health authorities have begun preparations to fulfill their obligations to implement the Health Authority Mobility language in the current Health Services and Support – Community Subsector (CBA) Collective Agreement.

This has meant many of our members have received notice from the health authority they work for that at the end of April or early May (depending on the health authority), all CBA seniority lists will be merged into a single seniority list for the entire health authority.

If you hold only one position within your health authority, there will be no impact on your seniority. If you hold more than one position, you will be prompted to decide what your primary worksite is, and your seniority will be adjusted to reflect a single seniority rather than multiple levels of seniority.

After implementation, members will be able to apply for positions throughout the health authority. Members will be considered internal applicants for any CBA position and will be able to take all of their accumulated benefits and seniority with them.

We are working with the other CBA affiliate unions and HEABC to establish a firm list of effective dates for each health authority.

In the event a member disagrees with their seniority assignment, you will have the ability to challenge that assignment up to and including the grievance procedure.

We will provide further details as they arise.

 

In solidarity,

Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator

HSPBA professional development fund applications for 2023-24 now open to CUPE members

CUPE health science professionals can now apply for new professional development funds announced in the spring under an agreement reached between the provincial Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Professional Bargaining Association (HSPBA).

All health science professionals covered by the HSPBA collective agreement, which includes members of HSA, BCGEU, CUPE, PEA and HEU, are eligible to apply for funding, which will be allocated to the constituent unions on a pro-rata basis.

Key points about the new professional development funding:

  • The funding is to be allocated to training and upgrading skills for HSPBA members working in professions experiencing shortages, or in rural and remote locations, as well as ongoing required professional development for all HSPBA members;
  • The funding will apply to education or training commenced between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024. The application form should be submitted ASAP and no later than August 31, 2024;
  • The education or training must pertain to professional development in a health science professional discipline being practiced in the public health care system; and
  • Eligible expenses for reimbursement include tuition fees, registration fees, cost of required books or materials, and other reasonable education-related expenses and may also include reasonable costs of travel and accommodation if the applicant must travel or temporarily relocate to attend education or training or related clinical placement.

Successful applicants will be reimbursed upon proof of completion of the program applied for, along with receipt for costs claimed. If a course, if a program or workshop is cancelled or otherwise not attended, the application will be cancelled and the member must reapply on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, see the eligibility requirements and frequently asked questions.

To apply now, fill out this form.