Bargaining is underway for a renewed collective agreement for HEU members in the facilities subsector – more than two-thirds of the union’s membership.
Staffing levels, health and safety, and wages are always priority issues, but they’ve been made even more urgent because of pandemic-related stress and rising costs.
In a recent survey of FBA members, one in three said they were considering leaving health care in the next two years because of their experiences through COVID-19.
HEU members work in some of B.C.’s most dangerous workplaces, with injury rates at twice the provincial average – four times higher in long-term care.
Health care workers are being called on for staggering amounts of overtime, putting them at risk of physical injury and mental burnout.
And like all workers in B.C., members are struggling to keep a roof over their heads in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. They’re worried about the cost of groceries, child care, and transportation in the face of inflationary pressures not seen for 30 years.
In a job market that’s seen steady growth in wages, health care workers are falling behind, says Meena Brisard, HEU secretary-business manager. And this impact will be felt across the health care system.
Brisard is sounding the alarm for employers in this round of bargaining, and following up with a strong solution: “Investing in our health care workers today, will help us build the sustainable health care system we all want for the future.”
Stronger measures needed to keep workers safer
Food services worker Monica Keogh, from the 100 Mile District General Hospital, says health, safety and violence prevention are issues she hopes the new collective agreement will address.
The hospital’s rural setting – it’s about 200 km northwest of Kamloops – means health and safety needs differ from urban centres. Some supports are slow to reach them, Keogh says.
“We’re so rural, we don’t have everything in place,” she says, “and then, when I walk into a hospital in the Lower Mainland, I’m like, ‘Wow, they have stuff here.’”
For example, Keogh says it was only last year that the nurses’ station at her workplace was provided with a Plexiglas barrier, even though it’s been the norm at city hospitals for years.
But what concerns Keogh the most are aggressive members of the anti-vaccine movement, which she sees as more numerous in her part of B.C., coupled with an absence of security guards at the hospital.
Keogh is a member of her local’s Joint Occupational Health and Safety committee. “We started realizing we had a problem when we had some major disruptions at the vaccination centre in the hospital.
“For the potentially unpredictable behaviour of very, very irate and frustrated patients or people coming in, there was no stopping them. So, we sat down, we said, ‘What do we do if one of these people decides to get violent? What do we have in place?’
“We have a bunch of nurses behind desks, giving the vaccinations, and you have some greeters at the front door. We have absolutely no security. We had managers accosted. We had some very serious situations.”
Keogh says she’s worried about the psychological health and safety of staff, who have been living in a state of hyper-vigilance for two years.
Through her advocacy, she has been “putting a light on where we need to improve and close the gap.”
Work-related trauma and stress demand improved mental health supports
Terri-Lynne Huddlestone, a clerk at Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert, says that after two significant COVID-19 outbreaks at the long-term care home, she and her colleagues are still grieving.
“There were many of our residents [who passed] that were with us for quite a long time, and we had all formulated relationships with them in different ways,” she said.
As the person at the front desk, Huddlestone says some of her connections with residents were limited to a passing hello, but others were deeper. One resident, who died of COVID-19, used to come and sit across from her in the lobby, and they would have long, meaningful conversations.
“Every one of them touched my heart,” she said.
Huddlestone thinks the health and safety challenges she and others face intersect with recruitment and retention issues. She recently attended a mental health training program through HEU, but found it difficult to be absent from her job because the home is so short-staffed. The course was helpful, but she “almost felt guilty taking it.”
She says, “We need the acceptance and the acknowledgement that these types of workshop sessions are really important to our mental health.
“We need to start to bring more of those types of workshops in for our staff, because if we don’t start to support our members in that way, I think, as much as the burnout is out there, it’s going to be even worse.”
Struggling with the cost of living adds significant pressure to workers already facing stress in their jobs. Food prices in Northern B.C. are high, and housing costs are rising even in smaller communities.
“Wage increases will really make a difference for me and my colleagues,” she said.
Health care workers need access to regular and more stable employment
Ruby Bhandal works in an acute care unit at Richmond Hospital, where she is the only full-time care aide on staff.
The unit frequently has unfilled positions for care aides, which she believes is due to the high intensity of the workload and because the other positions don’t offer full-time hours.
“On my unit, they haven’t been able to retain [care aides] other than myself,” she says.
“Every now and then, somebody will apply and they will stick around for two weeks or three weeks, and then, they will quit because it’s only 20 hours a week.
“It’s a very busy unit. There’s always tests and stuff happening, so we are always ‘Go, go, go.’ It’s not like other units where you see the same patients. It changes daily.”
Bhandal believes if two of the part-time positions were combined into one full-time position that it would be easier to fill, and she’s been asking managers to make this change, but says they tell her they’re waiting on funding.
Better recognition of care work is something Bhandal wants to see. During the height of the pandemic, she worked in a COVID-19 ward, and says the intimacy and emotional stress was staggering.
“Lots of people, who were very sick, were praying and thanking us because we were there to feed them,” she says.
“You’re sitting there holding that iPad for them as they speak to their loved ones. Can you imagine the emotions we are going through at that point? What do we have to do to prove that we are equal staff here?”