News & Updates

The Community Social Services Employers Association and Community Social Services Barganining Association Committee has been working jointly to determine necessary wage adjustments, which are scheduled for April 1, 2017 and April 1, 2018. The wage grids for 2017, including the Economic Stability Dividend and General Wage Increase, will be released shortly. The committee reviewed all 62 benchmarks and agreed to...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2016 NUPGE scholarships are open to the children, grandchildren or foster children of HSA members who are starting a post-secondary education. Each year, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) offers scholarships that reflect its pursuit of equal opportunity for all workers. Historically there have been four scholarships, and for 2017, NUPGE has added...

Printer-friendly version.Starting with the first pay period after February 1, 2017, most HSA members can expect a pay increase of 0.35% over and above the 5.5% increase rolling out over the life of the current contract. This increase is the result of the Economic Stability Dividend, a feature of the current agreement which requires the government to increase negotiated wages...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2016 There are a lot of good reasons to get involved in an election campaign. Many members decide to work on an election campaign because they belong to a political party, or get inspired by the party leader. Lexie Mercier, a health information management professional at the BC Cancer Agency, had a more personal reason. Lexie's...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2016 Shortages of health professionals are hurting patient care and the people who deliver it. HSA is taking action by raising public awareness of how shortages create longer wait times, while mobilizing members to provide key information on where and how the resulting workload issues are happening. This fall, HSA rolled out a new ad using...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2016 When physiotherapist Fabiola Toyata returned to hospital work in Prince George after a 10-year absence, she had a bit of a rude awakening. Workload challenges, always a tough issue in healthcare, had skyrocketed in the course of a decade. "I saw a huge change in workloads, in acuity, in the number of patients. Also, the...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2016 Employers in BC are legally required to investigate certain workplace incidents. Those include events involving an injury to a worker where medical treatment was required, but also include minor injuries or near-miss events that had the potential to cause serious injury. Near-miss or close call events imply that if things had gone a little bit...

Important information about bc government changes that affect your drug coverage plan The BC Government has announced that the Reference Drug Program, which forms part of the provincial PharmaCare plan, will be expanding effective December 1, 2016. What this means for all HSA members who work under public sector contracts (HSPBA, NBA, CSSEA, CBA) is that some medications which are...

On Monday, the Vancouver Sun devoted front-page coverage to HSA's efforts to stop attacks on RPNs: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/violent-assaults-on-nurses-by-p… Abbotsford Regional Hospital has experienced 62 acts of violence against staff between 2008 and March 2015. That's when a nurse was savagely beaten in the ER, generating provincial media coverage. Fraser Health Authority responded with a review that led, in July 2015, to...

With flu season around the corner, HSA members are reminded of the provincial influenza control policy in effect in BC. In spite of changes in other provinces, the flu prevention policy in BC has not changed, and health care workers who choose not to be vaccinated have options available to them, including wearing a surgical mask. Health care workers must...