Dear CUPE members in the community health sector,

As the province responds to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Provincial Health Officer has issued orders and the BCCDC and Ministry of Health continue to provide more information which we can share with you. This information has been updated today, is summarized in this bulletin and is posted in greater detail on our frequently updated COVID-19 FAQ page.

NEW INFORMATION:

Critical Public Service (“essential”) workers and your rights

We have clarified what it means to be deemed an “essential” or critical public service worker. Working in this sector, you are more than likely deemed a critical worker (“essential”). What this means is that you are expected to be at work, unless your manager approves that you work from home or take a leave (unpaid or otherwise).  Extenuating circumstances, such as the need for dependent care (child or elder), must be supported by clear documentation.

Advice for members who are pregnant

The BCCDC and Ministry of Health have determined that pregnant women are not at greater risk of acquiring COVID-19, nor are they at greater risk of severe symptoms than comparable aged persons.  If you are pregnant, we encourage you to consult with your primary care provider on whether you should remain in your current role or be accommodated to work in a low-risk setting or work from home. Supportive documentation from your primary care provider will be required to seek the approval of an accommodation from your manager/accommodations department.

Childcare

At this time, childcare providers and schools that provide care and/or in-class instruction have been instructed to prioritize placements for those children whose parents are employed as ‘Tier 1’ essential service employees, a field that includes front-line health care as well as social services, law enforcement, first responders and emergency response.

With spring break now concluded, the Province is partnering with health authorities as of this week (March 30) to assist ‘Tier 1’ workers in accessing childcare on an urgent need basis. If you are someone in this position, please take the following steps:

• If your children are school-aged (Kindergarten to Grade 6), contact their school principal as soon as possible to determine how best to meet the need for urgent childcare beginning this week.
• If your children are non-school aged, contact childcare providers that operate on their school grounds to see if they have the capacity, or call their local Childcare Resource and Referral (CCRR) Centre and they will work to match front-line health care workers with a child care provider that has available space.

For parents with school-aged children, here are the links to the school districts:

Vancouver (City of Vancouver Info, they are working jointly with the school district)
Burnaby (School District 41)
Surrey (School District 36)
Richmond (School District 38)
Langley (School District, no information available about childcare for essential workers to date.)
Delta (School District 37, no information available about childcare for essential workers to date)
North Van (no information available on emergency childcare to date)
West Van (West Vancouver Schools)
New West (School District 40, look for the link to take the survey, which is where canvassing for childcare needs is taking place)
Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore/Belcarra (School District 43, general info on COVID-19 but no specific info available about childcare to date)
Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows (School District 42)
Abbotsford (School District 34, no information available about childcare for essential workers to date)
Mission (School District 75, no information available about childcare for essential workers to date)
Victoria (School District 61)
Sooke (School District 62)
Saanich (School District 63, no information available about childcare for essential workers to date)
Port Alberni (School District 70)

Because the immediate focus is for critical need only, the Province and health authorities are prioritizing requests from health care workers who have no other childcare options this week.

Additional information on childcare for essential workers can be found in “COVID-19 Questions and Answers for the Child Care Sector” – a document produced by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The full document can be found here. The government is also encouraging families to check the ministry and government of BC COVID-19 websites regularly for the most up to date information regarding childcare services in the province.

Single Site and Data Collection Orders by Provincial Health Officer

On March 26 and 27, 2020, the Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, issued orders to limit staff movement between long-term care facilities, hospitals and other health care work sites. We believe that few CUPE members are impacted by these orders. However, If you are a CUPE member who works at least in part at a long-term care facility, hospital, assisted living residence, provincial mental health facility, extended care centre or rehab centre in B.C., please review the following prepared Q & A:

Will this affect me if I currently work at only one worksite?

No. If you currently work at only one worksite, you will continue to work at that worksite and will not need to do anything different at this time.

Will this affect where I work long term?

This order and related orders will be in effect for as long as is necessary to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. We cannot predict how long that will be, but you should anticipate disruption to your regular schedule for some time.

My job involves me visiting multiple sites to deliver specialized care. If I am limited to one worksite, patients will go without critical care, and their health will be compromised.

CUPE understands the critical services of health science professionals, and the impact that such an order could have on patient care. CUPE has alerted the Medical Health Officers, who have the authority to exempt certain groups from being restricted from working at multiple sites, to take into consideration the implication of denying services to patients as a consequence of the order.

Anyone who is not covered by the exemptions must register to indicate their worksite preference. Exempted groups are:

1. Physicians
2. Resident Physicians
3. Nurse practitioners
4. Paramedics
5. Delivery persons
6. Trades people
7. Visitors
8. Any other class of person exempted by the Provincial Health Officer

I need both the jobs I have at different sites to maintain my family’s income.

CUPE and other unions have been working to ensure that members do not experience loss of income as a result of the Provincial Health Officer’s order. Employers are to make efforts to ensure that employees continue to work the same FTE they worked prior to the change, and all employees will be encouraged to maximize their hours.

I’m a casual. Does this order apply to me?

Yes. This order applies to everyone who works in health care.

What happens to all my pre-booked shifts?

Staff are anticipated to work all scheduled shifts, and the goal is to maintain at least the current maximum hours.

 

Thank you for the meaningful work you do every day—especially right now. Like all British Columbians we appreciate the critical work of our health care members, and no more so than during an extraordinary crisis such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are all under significant stress as we cope with constantly shifting circumstances for our families and communities during the crisis, and health care workers are under the greatest stress of all. You are the line of defense between COVID-19 and the general public. If there is anything we can do to support you, please let us know.

B.C.’s health care system is on heightened alert to contain and slow the spread of COVID-19. As the situation evolves, the Ministry of Health, Office of the Provincial Health Officer, and BC Centre for Disease Control are providing new information on a daily basis.

To assist you further during this difficult period, we want to provide the most accurate and up to date information relevant to your work in health care. Please visit CUPE’s Community Health website for general information about COVID-19 for CUPE members in Community Health, including frequently asked questions and other resources.  There’s also help available for CUPE members in need of income supports.

CUPE National has also responded with these general occupational guidelines on COVID-19 and the CUPE BC website now has a landing page for information relevant to CUPE members from all sectors in B.C.  Meanwhile, CUPE has called on the federal government to provide more protections for coronavirus frontline workers.  CUPE welcomes the government’s announcement of the Emergency Response Benefit, which will cover people who have lost their job, people who are sick or quarantined, and parents who must stay home without pay to care for children. CUPE also welcomes changes to B.C.’s Employment Standards Act dealing with COVID-19 Leave, including an amendment that provides workers with unpaid, job-protected leave if they are unable to work for reasons related to COVID-19. The leave is retroactive to January 27, 2020. The application form will be available on April 6.

Member rights

Members should be aware of their workplace rights during these extraordinary circumstances; some of which we have negotiated in response to this public health emergency:

• Paid general leave on isolation/quarantine, without impacting on your leave banks, including sick leave;
• A safe workplace, including the provision of personal protective equipment, procedures and training (where necessary) to protect you while you are working to keep the public safe;
• Refusal of unsafe work in accordance with the Workers’ Compensation Act, Occupational Health and Safety Regulations Sections 3.12 and 3.13 (view CUPE’s Refusing Unsafe Work – COVID-19 bulletin); and
• Cancellation of pre-approved leave, such as vacation leave, at our member’s sole discretion.

Redeployment to another job or tasks in health care

We have been informed that there may be a need for redeployment within the health care system to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Principles are being negotiated at the provincial level to determine how redeployment to different jobs, work areas, or tasks will occur. Our primary focus is to ensure that you, our members, feel safe and capable in the role to which you are redeployed. If you are asked to redeploy and have concerns, please contact your CUPE local and provide the name and contact information for the manager/director or HR Advisor discussing such plans.

During this current crisis, we can all appreciate feelings of uncertainty surrounding our employment. We want to assure you that, regardless of when the COVID-19 pandemic concludes or recedes, we will ensure that your collective agreement and employment rights are enforced.

If there is anything else we can do to support you, please contact your CUPE local. For additional information and resources specific to COVID-19 in B.C. not found here, please visit: www.bccdc.ca.

Statement from CUPE National President Mark Hancock and National Secretary-Treasurer Charles Fleury

BURNABY—After a successful year of bargaining that saw its members achieve solid new collective agreements, increased visibility and new ways to address workload, CUPE’s Health Care Presidents Council (HCPC) met on May 15 to review progress so far, identify ongoing challenges in the sector, and solidify its relationship to CUPE BC.

At the meeting, Council members reviewed recent updates to the Community Health website (bcchs.cupe.ca), particularly new resources provided for the sector’s ongoing workload campaign. These include information post cards, customized for each local in the sector, on what action to take and who to contact regarding unsafe workloads, as well as tips on how to file a grievance.

In his report to the Council, CUPE Health Coordinator Chris Losito noted that low wage redress has now been implemented for members in the Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA), which by April 1, 2021 will bring those classifications to within 98 per cent of other Facilities Bargaining Association pay rates.

“Ultimately we’d like to see parity with Facilities overall, but this is a significant step in the right direction,” said Losito.

Presidents discussed a growing trend, among some employers under the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA), of changing required qualifications for certain professions, now requiring a minimum of a Master’s degree. Vancouver Coastal Health, for example, has been doing this for social work positions without notice and without considering exceptions for equivalent experience. Agreeing that the same system should apply across all locals, the Presidents said they would monitor job postings in their respective areas and strongly encourage members who feel they have equivalent experience to apply for positions of interest.

HCPC members also reviewed and put the finishing touches to the Council’s protocol agreement. Essentially functioning as a set of bylaws for the HCPC, the protocol agreement is a foundational document that describes the Council’s work on behalf of CUPE community health locals and members around the province.

“Once the locals sign off on it, the protocol’s adoption will ultimately expand the scope of the Council’s work, improve communication between its members and also between the HCPC and CUPE BC as well as between the HCPC and its allies in labour and the health sector.  The revised protocol agreement will also empower the HCPC to address urgent issues facing the sector in a more timely manner,” said Losito.

The HCPC is comprised of presidents and delegates from CUPE Locals 15, 1978, 3403-01, 3495 and 4816, each local representing members within two provincial collective agreements—the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) and the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA)—as well as the QMUNITY collective agreement. Combined, these CUPE locals represent just over 500 members in the CBA and approximately 800 HSPBA members.

The group next meets on August 14 in Nanaimo.