Talks for a new facilities collective agreement resumed this week with your union bargaining committee tabling proposals to address crushing workloads and a worsening health and safety crisis on the frontlines.

We have heard loud and clear from frontline workers that workloads are taking a huge toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally, and that the pandemic has only deepened this crisis.

We tabled bargaining proposals this week to address short-staffing and provide Joint OH&S committees with more tools to address workload complaints. We are also proposing improved access to Personal Protective Equipment, better-ventilated workplaces, and other measures to protect workers in a future major pandemic.

Your union bargaining committee is also proposing an expansion to the Enhanced Disability Management Program, which supports ill and injured workers to safely return to work.

Safer workloads and better support for injured members are key to retaining skilled workers and attracting the health care workers we need going forward, but we also need to significantly improve wages, and provide union members with more opportunities for career mobility through education and training.

We are proposing continued and expanded funding for the union-managed FBA Education Fund, which has successfully supported thousands of members in skills-upgrading and career mobility since its inception in 2006.

We will be exchanging wage proposals next week.

In a week where the provincial government introduced legislation to bring provincial laws into compliance with the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we also exchanged proposals on how to promote the recruitment and promotion of Indigenous health care workers and combat Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination.

In solidarity,

Your Health Facilities Bargaining Association