B.C. nurses issue 72

B.C.’s nurses have issued a 72-hour strike notice, saying the action shows their growing frustration with pressures facing the profession and health-care system.

This comes after the rejection of a tentative agreement reached between the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) and health employers.

Sixty-seven per cent of nurses rejected the agreement after 98.2 per cent voted in May in favour of job action.

The agreement did have improvements to benefits and shift premiums, but nurses want to secure a general wage increase to reflect the fact that they play a vital role in sustaining a health-care system that is operating beyond its limits, according to information released by the union.

“This is fundamentally a conversation about priorities,” says BCNU president Adriane Gear in a release. “Nurses want to know why the health authorities continue to spend millions of dollars on costly short-term staffing solutions, while the nurses who are here for the long-term struggling with workload pressures, unsafe working conditions and staffing shortages are being told the cupboards are empty.”

The union says that a strike is not a step that nurses want to take.

“However, many have reached the point where they feel they have no choice but to shine a light on the realities they face every day while caring for British Columbians in crowded hospitals, understaffed long-term care facilities, community health settings andpatients’s homes across the province,” NBA chief negotiator and BCNU CEO Jim Gould said.

What does job action look like?

The union will be in a legal strike position as of Thursday at 12:01 p.m. unless a deal is reached.

Job action could include abandoning non-nursing duties and restricting overtime, but as an essential service, a minimum level of staffing must be maintained.

The union said more information on their next steps will be shared as it becomes available.