BCGEU Health Facilities Subsector strike vote and NOTICE OF POLL

Talks for a new Facilities collective agreement are on hold while the multi-union Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) asks members for a strong strike mandate. Voting begins Monday, October 22 across B.C.

The FBA negotiating committee returned to the bargaining table Friday, October 19 in the hope health employers would rethink their demand that workers take on huge benefit costs in return for modest wage increases.

That was not to be. The Health Employers Association of B.C. (HEABC) and B.C. Government are holding to their position that workers take on 25 per cent of the costs of their benefits – or an equivalent cost burden – as a precondition of any wage increase.

BCGEU President Darryl Walker said that’s a raw deal.

“The demand could cost our members hundreds of dollars a year.Workers in this sector have sacrificed in recent years. It’s now time the employer came to the table with a fair and reasonable offer,” Walker said.

Facilities negotiations began last February. But, it wasn’t until mid-September that HEABC tabled its demand that members pay for a quarter of their benefit costs.

While there has been some movement on the FBA’s priority issues, such as six-day rotations, employers haven’t moved far enough. As well, everything remains conditional on an agreement where members take on 25 per cent of the costs of benefits.

BCGEU members covered by the Facilities agreement can voice their opposition to the employers’ demands by providing their bargaining committee with a strong strike mandate.

“With a solid strike mandate, I believe we can conclude a fair and reasonable collective agreement that doesn’t include our members taking concessions on benefits,” said Walker.

The collective agreement includes more than 270 job classifications working at hospitals, care homes, diagnostic treatment centres, emergency health services, logistics and supply operations and corporate services.

The BCGEU is one of 11 members of the FBA. The others include HEU, CUPE and IUOE.

Strike votes will be conducted in the BCGEU Health Facilities Subsector as follows:

Click here for pdf of Facilities strike vote dates, times and locations.

Strike Votes for Health Facilities will be conducted at the following Membership Meetings as indicated in this PDF.