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.
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
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
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:
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.
A new web page on the CUPE Health Workers site is ready to assist members who work full- or part-time under the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) in determining whether their employer has properly classified their work.
The process, part of a new classification redesign aimed at modernizing the healthcare system, ensures that your role in the system is clearly recognized, that your job has been classified properly and that you are paid appropriately.
The web page contains information about the process, answers to frequently asked questions, and a classification review questionnaire, which will guide you through an assessment of your job to determine if the employer has assigned your job to the correct classification profile. It also includes a profile match objection form in case your employer has misclassified your job.
The employer is expected to provide each member with their job description and match in the redesigned classification system by no later than September 22. Members who have not received their new job description by then should request the documents from their supervisor or manager. If there are problems related to receiving your job description, please contact bchealth@cupe.ca.
Please remember that you must complete the classification review questionnaire before November 15. If the employer has misclassified your job, you will also need to submit a profile match objection form to your employer before that date.
Union members covered by the HSPBA collective agreement urged to reach out to former colleagues with important information about retro pay, including deadlines for eligibility.
The Health Sciences Professional Bargaining Association (HSBPA) and the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) reached a Memorandum of Agreement this month on retroactive pay for eligible members who ceased employment on or after April 1, 2022 – the date that most of the monetary terms and conditions of the 2022-2025 HSPBA collective agreement came into effect.
This retroactive pay agreement, which was concluded on July 21, 2023, ensures that union members covered by the HSPBA Collective Agreement whose employment ended after April 1, 2022, will receive payment for all monetary provisions related to work they performed on or after that date.
This applies to any member who stopped working for a HEABC employer through resignation, retirement, or termination by the employer. It applies only to employees who have severed their employment relationship. For clarity, members who retired but remain casual employees have a continuing employment relationship, so they are not required to apply for retroactive pay under the terms of this Memorandum of Agreement.
Retroactive pay includes all monetary provisions such as wages, premiums, allowances, and leaves and is calculated on all paid hours. Please check the summary of changes for more details.
Eligible members will receive a letter from their employer, at their last known address on record, with details on how to apply for retroactive pay. Under the terms of the agreement, the employers will send these letters no later than August 15, 2023. Eligible members will have 60 days from the date of the letter to respond to the employer. If a former employee does not provide a response within 60 days, the employer will not be required to pay.
The employer will determine the method and timing of the payment, but it will be no later than December 1, 2023, and will be by cheque or direct deposit.
Important deadlines
If you know someone who may be eligible for this retroactive payment, please forward this important information to them so they can apply for the money owed to them.
Former employees who are eligible for retroactive payment should contact their Local if they do not receive a letter from their former employer outlining how to apply for the retroactive pay to which they are entitled.
During the last round of negotiations, we made significant progress in achieving full mobility for all Health Authority employees covered by the Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA). Each Health Authority is currently divided into separate ‘Appendix 1 Employers’ in the Collective Agreement. Previously, Health Authority employees worked for a separate employer within the Health Authority. In many cases, this meant that they were not considered an internal applicant at other workplaces covered by the same agreement and limited their ability to transfer seniority, benefits, and accruals.
Stage 1 – Transfer of Seniority, Steps, and Accruals
In the new CA, if a worker is a successful applicant for a position in the same Health Authority where they are currently employed, they can choose to transfer all seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position. Workers will still be considered external applicants if they are applying to work for another Health Authority.
Workers will only port their seniority if they choose to resign from the position they currently hold and are not allowed to utilize this provision if they maintain their employment and seniority with another Appendix 1 Employer within a Health Authority. While they may apply to work at other Appendix 1 Employers within their Health Authority, they will be considered a new employee for that job.
Example 1 – A worker in Victoria (VIHA) is a successful applicant for a position in Nanaimo (VIHA). They can now transfer all their seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position if they are resigning from the position in Victoria.
Example 2 – A worker who holds two CBA positions in Burnaby (FHA) and is a successful applicant for a position in Chilliwack (FHA). They can now transfer all seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position if they resign from both positions in Burnaby.
Example 3 – A worker in Vancouver (VCH) who wishes to maintain their current position and apply for a job in Richmond (VCH), will be considered a new employee in Richmond.
Stage 2 – Dovetailing and Full Mobility
The second stage of mobility will occur in April of 2024 when all seniority lists for a Health Authority in the CBA will be merged. They will have full mobility throughout and will be considered internal candidates for all CBA positions, regardless of where they work in the Health Authority. Your Union will update you as the details for this second stage are established.
However, this process will include limiting all CBA employees in a Health Authority to holding a maximum of 1.0 FTE. This means that workers who currently have two or more positions that are more than 1.0 FTE will have to choose which position they will be keeping. This will also impact employees who work more than 37.5 hours per week at straight time. Once the second stage is implemented, all hours worked over 37.5 per week will be considered overtime, and those hours will likely be distributed to other employees at straight time where possible.
If you wish to continue working more than 37.5 hours per week at straight time, you are advised to seek additional employment outside of your health authority or outside the CBA.
In solidarity,
Andrew Ledger
Health Sector Coordinator
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.
Greetings CUPE 1004 Nurses,
Members of the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) have successfully ratified a new three-year collective agreement with B.C.’s health employers, effective April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2025. In addition to the terms of the contract, nurses will now see the benefits of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding agreements reached between the NBA and the provincial government.
Sixty-one per cent of NBA members voted in favour of the tentative agreement reached on March 31, 2023. The contract applies to nurses working in acute care, community, public health, long-term care, and other settings within the province’s health care system.
The agreement includes the following general wage increases for all employees:
In addition to the general wage increase, the collective agreement includes a significant wage schedule redesign that provides meaningful wage gains, including new increment steps at years 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30. There are also significant increases to shift premiums, on-call rates, responsibility pay and isolation travel allowance.
The agreement also includes significant improvements in job flexibility and access to leaves, as well as investments in workplace health and safety. New contract language will also advance the principles of diversity, equity and inclusivity to ensure that all nurses are welcome in their workplaces. A genuine commitment to truth and reconciliation, cultural safety, and strategies to address Indigenous-specific racism in the healthcare system is also incorporated into the agreement.
The ratification of the collective agreement secures the following historic funding agreements reached between the NBA and provincial government:
Yours in solidarity,
Andrew Ledger
CUPE Heath Sector Coordinator
The HEABC-led employer bargaining team and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) have reached a tentative agreement under the Province’s Shared Recovery Mandate. Negotiations commenced for a new collective agreement on December 8, 2022. Negotiations under the Shared Recovery Mandate support government’s key priorities to improve public services and the health care system, while supporting the province’s continued economic recovery for all.
Highlights of the tentative agreement include:
Further details will be available in the coming weeks as the ratification processes for both union members and employers unfold.