Striking B.C. nurses take picket lines to Vancouver Island

British Columbia nurses expanded job action on Sunday with new picket lines outside Victoria General Hospital.

Striking B.C. nurses take picket lines to Vancouver Island Nurses launched picket lines in Vancouver, Surrey earlier this month British Columbia nurses expanded job action on Sunday with new picket lines outside Victoria General Hospital. It comes as the B.C. Nurses' Union (BCNU) remains locked in tense contract negotiations with the province, after members voted to reject a tentative agreement last month. On Friday, the province appointed veteran mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers to try and settle the dispute.

“It is unfortunate that we’ve had to escalate, but, you know, it is also now getting us some results," BCNU president Adriane Gear said. "It seems to me, the premier, health minister are paying attention, [the] minister of labour [got] involved, bringing in this special mediator." Nurses voted 98.2 per cent in favour of strike action in May due to stalled contract talks with the Health Employers' Association (HEABC), which represents the province as the employer in this instance.

In June, members voted 67 per cent in favour to reject a tentative deal that would have provided a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and other improved benefits, negotiated under the "Balanced Measures Mandate," the provincial government's framework for negotiating with public sector unions. Nurses began job action earlier this month with picket lines outside Vancouver General Hospital, expanding last week to Surrey Memorial Hospital. While many of B.C.'s 60,000 unionized nurses are covered under essential-service agreements, the union has implemented targeted action including a ban on non-nursing duties and non-essential overtime, and picket lines have been staffed by those not on the job.

The union has cited deteriorating workplace safety, pay and burnout as key issues. Gear said she was "cautiously optimistic" there could be progress with mediators in place, but only if they are empowered to move beyond the province's framework. “When we consider the lack of a retention and recruitment strategy, when we consider the violence that nurses face, when we consider the fact that the general wage increase did not go far enough, I find it hard to imagine a resolution that we could come to without having access to additional mandate money," she said.

Asked for comment, the province referred CBC News to comments Premier David Eby made on Friday when announcing the mediators. "I don't want to prejudge any conversations that will take place at the table," Eby said at that time. "I know we have a shared goal of ensuring nurses are respected and appreciated in our system, and are able to return to work fully to support patients in B.C., and that will be our goal at the table."

Nurses plan to expand job action on Vancouver Island this week, picketing Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and the South Island Surgical Centre on Monday, and Royal Jubilee Hospital on Tuesday. The Island Health Authority said emergency care would not be affected at those sites, but those facilities would operate at essential service levels, meaning some appointments and non-urgent surgeries would be postponed. Gear said nurses appreciate the job action may cause "some hardship" for the public.

“No nurse wants to be on this picket line, nurses want to be in that building (Victoria General Hospital) providing care to patients," she said. "But the system can no longer be carried on the backs of nurses, and certainly our other forms of advocacy have not gone far enough."