[Burnaby, BC] Members of the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) have voted 54.2 per cent in favour of ratifying a renewed Facilities Subsector collective agreement following an online vote.
The four-year agreement, effective April 1, 2025, includes general wage increases of three per cent each year, along with important gains that support recruitment, retention and safer, more sustainable workplaces. It also launches a landmark multi-agreement wage restoration plan to continue repairing the damage caused by the BC Liberals’ vicious 2004 wage rollbacks.
The agreement covers more than 67,500 health care workers across British Columbia, including care aides, health records staff, lab and other diagnostic specialists, sterile supply techs, renal technicians, nursing unit assistants, trades and maintenance workers, activity aides and rehab assistants, IT specialists, pharmacy techs, admitting and booking clerks, administrative staff, cleaning and dietary staff and many others.
HEU secretary-business manager Lynn Bueckert, lead negotiator for the FBA, says the agreement reflects members’ priorities at a time when staffing shortages continue to strain B.C.’s health system.
“Members have secured fair wage increases, meaningful safety improvements and long-overdue measures to restore wages that were unjustifiably cut more than 20 years ago,” says Bueckert. “This agreement will help better attract and keep workers in the system, so patients and residents get the care they deserve.”
Bueckert says the agreement also moves beyond the provincial public sector mandate to address long-standing inequities.
“The wage restoration plan is a landmark victory for health care workers that rights historic wrongs and ensures their pay keeps pace with comparable public sector jobs,” adds Bueckert. “Health employers and government have committed to extending restoration measures beyond 2029, in permanent and ongoing wage adjustments over the following two collective agreements.”
A major component of the agreement is a historic step toward fixing the fractured seniors’ care system. By September 30, 2028, government will restore common wages, benefits and working conditions for several thousand unionized workers in privately operated long-term care and assisted-living facilities currently excluded from the FBA – reversing years of privatization that led to wage reductions and high staff turnover.
Negotiations with the Health Employers Association of B.C. (HEABC) began last February, and the agreement was reached on November 17 after ten months of talks.
HEU represents more than 95 per cent of the workers covered by the agreement.