BURNABY (NEWS1130) - Most public sector contracts in BC need to be renegotiated this year.
For the province's 43,000 healthcare workers, bargaining begins Tuesday. Representatives from 12 unions will gather in Burnaby to open talks with the government and the province's many healthcare employers. The current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of March.
The major issues for employees include workplace health and safety, and money.
"They're looking for reasonable compensation increases," said
Bonnie Pearson, who will represent the unions when the talks begin. "We're looking for general wage increases for people who have experienced a decade of not keeping up.
"Certainly, [there are] issues around health and safety. Injury rates in healthcare are among the highest in the province, and that's a cost-driver for the employers. We're looking for things that give people better work-life balance."
The province has maintained a policy of zero-net wage increases for the last decade as it has attempted to keep costs under control. Pearson says workers' wages have fallen behind those of their national counterparts, and it's time to change that.
"We're going to the table and we intend to take health employers at their word that they are interested in fair and reasonable collective agreements for public sectors," she said. "Our members have said that they've fallen behind in the last decade."
Health Minister
Mike de Jong said he is expecting the negotiations to be tense.
"The work that public sector workers, and especially those in the healthcare sector, do is incredibly valuable," he said. "The challenge, of course, is that in difficult fiscal and economic times we need to find the appropriate balance between rewarding them for that valuable work and the ability of the taxpayer to pay.
"I expect these will be intense and at times challenging negotiations."
Neither side is offering specific details of contract demands at this point, and Pearson, the union rep, says union members have not yet discussed any possible job action.
Healthcare is covered by essential services legislation, limiting the ability of workers to set up picket lines or walk off the job.