HEU’s Facilities Bargaining Committee is wrapping up a three-day session to prepare for upcoming negotiations with health employers for a renewed collective agreement covering 58,000 health care workers.
It was the first time the committee has met since their election at the union’s Facilities Bargaining Conference last month.
HEU secretary-business manager Meena Brisard, chief bargaining spokesperson for the union, says the bargaining committee had a productive session this week, reviewing the bargaining demands adopted or referred to them at our conference.
“For the last 22 months, health care workers have worked on the front lines of a global pandemic that has left them exhausted with many looking at leaving health care altogether,” says Brisard.
“Our bargaining committee is focused on securing a collective agreement that provides health care workers with the support they need to keep healthy and safe – and with significant improvements in their compensation package.”
Brisard says that negotiations with Health Employers Association of B.C. will begin in February.
Three out of four HEU members are covered by the Facilities Collective Agreement (FCA). And HEU is the lead union in the multi-union Facilities Bargaining Association, and represents more than 90 per cent of workers covered by the agreement.
“We’re looking forward to meeting with our union bargaining partners ahead of negotiations and building a strong and united team when we meet with employers next month,” says Brisard.
The current collective agreement expires on March 31, 2022.
HEU members are also part of upcoming negotiations at the Community Health table (negotiations begin in February) and Community Social Services table (dates not yet announced). At those two tables, HEU participates in a multi-union bargaining group led by BC General Employees Union.
The union also has a small number of members at the Nurses Bargaining Association and Health Sciences Professionals bargaining tables.