Health care workers in facilities ratify two-year agreement

Hospital and long-term care workers have voted 77 per cent in favour of a new two-year collective agreement with B.C.'s health employers.

The agreement protects wages and extended health benefits. It also expands options for workers affected by restructuring and privatization through expanded seniority rights, improved severance provisions and additional retraining funds.

In addition, the agreement provides special wage adjustments for targeted job categories where educational requirements and responsibilities have increased, and where there are recruitment and retention issues.

The agreement covers 48,000 workers, including 2,200 BCGEU members, and was reached between the multi-union Facilities Bargaining Association and the Health Employers Association of B.C. on February 6. Ratification votes were held across the province over the past three weeks.

Bobbi Pettett, chair of the BCGEU bargaining committee at the facilities table, says that the new agreement will provide greater stability for members at a time when there are threats of contracting out and restructuring in health care.

"The new agreement includes provisions that will help retain workers affected by contracting out and restructuring. This will be beneficial to patients and long-term care residents as well as affected workers," says Pettett.

"In a tough round of bargaining we managed to make progress on members' key priorities while protecting wages and important extended health plan benefits," says Pettett.

The agreement covers about 270 different jobs in every area of health care including nursing, health records, information technology, logistics and supply, diagnostic testing, pharmacy, trades and maintenance, dietary, housekeeping, payroll and more.

The Hospital Employees Union is the lead union in the Facilities Bargaining Association. There are eleven member unions including the BCGEU and the International Union of Operating Engineers.

The new agreement expires March 31, 2012.