Issues, Campaigns and Government Relations

HSA members working at CML Healthcare, a private provider of medical diagnostic testing services, ratified a new collective agreement with this week. The agreement was ratified by a 78 per cent vote in favour. For members in the Lower Mainland locations of CML Healthcare, it is a first agreement, as earlier this year they joined the existing bargaining unit representing...

Elisabeth Ballermann has been named Co-chair of the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat (CHPS), a national advocacy body that represents more than 60,000 health science professionals in more than 100 disciplines. These workers deliver the diagnostic, clinical and rehabilitation services essential to timely and quality health care. The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) created the CHPS to help...

-The government has heard, but the real test is whether they will listen to the thousands of British Columbians who said through the Conversation on Health that they value our public health care system," Leslie Dickout, Medicare campaigner for the B.C. Health Coalition said today in response to the release of the Conversation on Health summary report. The key message...

World AIDS Day, observed Dec. 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the global AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. This year the World AIDS day theme, STOP AIDS, Keep the Promise, has special resonance in Canada, where the Harper government appears to be wavering on a key domestic funding promise and leadership on the...

The BC government is once again poised to conclude another session of the legislature without taking action to resolve seniors health care concerns. One year ago, Patricia Baird tabled the Premiers Council on Aging and Seniors report, Aging Well in BC*, which was commissioned by the BC government to provide recommendations on how BC can best meet the needs of...

OTTAWA — To mark National Medicare Week, November 18-24, the Canadian Health Coalition and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are launching a new book entitled Medicare: Facts, Myths, Problems, Promise. The book is based on contributions to a remarkable conference ... S.O.S. Medicare 2: Looking Forward. The conference, held at the University of Regina, was inspired by Tommy Douglas...

I want to share with you our latest effort in the Campaign to increase BC's minimum wage and win a long overdue pay raise for 250,000 low paid workers. $10 NOW: BC Workers Need a Raise is a short video piece where working people talk about why our minimum wage needs to be increased. It's just been posted on You...

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has released the fifth and sixth in its ongoing series of Pensions Backgrounders. The publications are designed for union activists seeking educational material to build their knowledge base and skill level around critical issues in the field of pensions. How Much Pension will an Individual Need? examines how much income an...

HSA President Reid Johnson responds to Province editorial on the escalating costs of pharmaceuticals. Read the letter here.

The 3rd CLC Pension Conference attracted over 300 activists and experts to Ottawa last week ... making it one of our best-attended conferences, and with good reason. The future of secure pensions for working people is something unions have always held as a top priority. Delegates were treated to a wide variety of leading pension experts and a thorough line-up...