All full-time and part-time BCGEU members who work in health science professions under the Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) are affected. You can contact our union to confirm if you are a member under the HSPBA.

If you are a casual, you do not need to do anything: your colleagues in full-time and part-time positions will receive the employer notifications and respond to ensure each job is classified and paid appropriately.

BCGEU members covered by collective agreements for Community Social Services, Community Health, Health Facilities, or any collective agreements negotiated with independent employers are NOT affected by this process.

Your employer will provide all members in full-time and part-time positions with their current job description and employer-assigned classification profile in the early fall. While the timing is up to individual employers, they are required to do this no later than September 22, 2023. 

Next, you'll need to use our Classification Tool to determine whether your employer has assigned you to the correct classification profile. The tool will ask you a series of questions and should take less than 15 minutes to complete. Please use the Classification Tool as soon as possible: https://www.bcgeu.ca/HSPBA_classification_tool

If the employer has misclassified your job, you must report this by submitting a profile match objection form before November 15, 2023: https://www.bcgeu.ca/hspba_classification_objection_2023.

• Submit the completed form to your employer at the email address indicated on the notification of profile match that you received from your employer. If there is no email on your profile match, please email this form to your immediate supervisor. 
• Please copy BCGEU on this email at [email protected].

All profile match objections will be handled using the agreed-upon process, beginning after November 15, 2023 and ending in spring 2024.

The first step will be taken by the employer, who will provide you with your job description and notification of what classification profile they’ve assigned to your job. They will provide this directly to all members in full-time and part-time positions by September 22, 2023.

Next, you'll need to use our Classification Tool to determine whether your employer has assigned you to the correct classification profile. The tool will ask you a series of questions and should take less than 15 minutes to complete. Please use the Classification Tool as soon as possible: https://www.bcgeu.ca/HSPBA_classification_tool

If the employer has misclassified your job, you must report this by submitting a profile match objection form to your employer before November 15, 2023: https://www.bcgeu.ca/hspba_classification_objection_2023

• Submit the completed form to your employer at the email address indicated on the notification of profile match that you received from your employer. If there is no email on your profile match, please email this form to your immediate supervisor. 
• Please copy BCGEU on this email at [email protected].

No. What looks identical may not actually be. If you wish to be assured that your job has been matched to the correct profile, you should complete your own personal assessment by reviewing the job description and classification profile provided by your employer and comparing it to the classification profiles here: https://www.bcgeu.ca/hspba_classification_profiles_2023

Your employer is required to provide all full-time and part-time members with their current job description and employer-assigned classification profile by September 22. If you do not receive them by this date, please email your employer to request them.

If your employer does not provide a timely and satisfactory response, please forward your email to [email protected].

If you are away from work on a longer-term leave, you do not need to do anything. All current job descriptions and classification profile assignments will be provided to our union. BCGEU classifications staff will review them and may file objections.

Additionally, if your job has been backfilled, the current incumbent will receive the job description and assigned classification profile and will be able to file an objection if necessary.

You should complete the classification review for the position you are currently in.

This means that if you are in a temporary posting, you should receive the current job description and classification profile assignment for the role you currently occupy, and file an objection if necessary.

A profile is a document that describes the nature of work performed and includes a representative sample of the responsibilities found in a level of work within professions, and that is used specifically to classify jobs. Profiles are general enough to encompass all areas and levels of each health science profession within the bargaining unit, but specific enough to differentiate between them.

You can find all the profiles here: https://www.bcgeu.ca/hspba_classification_profiles_2023

The majority of health science professionals will see an increase when the system is fully implemented. In fact, almost 60% have already started to see the increases with the phase-in of the P1 profile rates that began on April 1, 2022.

When the new system is fully implemented, there will also be some jobs that will have lesser salary structures. However, the implementation agreement ensures that no BCGEU member will take a cut in pay. In fact, union members who hold these jobs at the implementation date will receive their current superior rate plus all future general wage increases while they occupy their same position.

The new profile-based classification system will be fully implemented in year three (2024-2025) of the current collective agreement, no later than February 28, 2025.

The new profile-based classification system will be fully implemented in year three (2024-2025) of the term of this collective agreement. The precise implementation date is not yet determined but will be no later than February 28, 2025.

The wage schedules that align with the new classifications system will be finalized in advance of the February 28, 2025 implementation date.

The classification and pay levels are based upon the required educational qualifications of any given job and are not based on the educational qualifications of the incumbent.

Some health science professionals, however, hold qualifications above and beyond the educational requirements for their job and those qualifications are utilized in the normal course of their duties. In these cases, the qualification differential language of the current HSPBA collective agreement will continue to recognize these additional qualifications.

For the purposes of this fall's classification review, it has been agreed that only currently recognized special procedures will be assigned to the P2A Special Procedures profile.

However, when the new profile-based classification system comes into effect in 2024/2025, there are provisions that allow for the union to advocate on your behalf to recognize additional special procedures by adding them to the P2A Special Procedures profile.

Special Procedures are defined as:

"A recognized level of expertise or competency in a specialized area of practice. This qualification is obtained through specialized education, training, and experience, which is over and above the full-scope working level and is required in order to carry out duties. To qualify for an increased pay level under the special procedure/techniques qualification clause it will be necessary for the employee to have the qualifications related to the required special procedures/techniques."

If you think that your work meets the above definition and should be recognized as a new special procedure, please sent us an email at [email protected] with as much information as you can share.

Your bargaining committee fought to ensure that each HSPBA member has the opportunity to review their classification and file an objection if necessary.  As the person currently working in your position, you have the in-depth knowledge and understanding of the work you perform every day. Your perspective is essential to the review of your job description and classification because what you actually do may not be fully recognized in the content of your job description.

Just like other types of grievances, you need to let your employer know if you disagree with how they have classified the work you do by providing them with a profile match objection form before November 15. Once you file a profile match objection, our union and union staff will move your objection through the agreed-upon process that will determine the final profile match of your job.