Nurses Ratify New Provincial Contract

Nurses covered by the Provincial Collective Agreement have voted 85 percent in favour of accepting the contract negotiated last month by the Nurses' Bargaining Association, led by the BC Nurses' Union.

This new comprehensive five-year agreement improves benefits, compensation and working conditions for nurses. It addresses major issues of staffing and workload that directly impact the safety of patient care through an expedited grievance and arbitration process and a new Nurse Staffing Secretariat. Employers will need to be held to account in order to ensure that contract language aimed at reducing their inappropriate use of on-call, and inability to educate and hire adequate nursing staff, continues to be tackled in all worksites.

In 2017, all members will gain access to Blue Rx which will greatly improve their access to prescription drugs and address the Pharmacare tie-in issues that so many of our members faced from the last contract settlement. Almost double the number of drugs will be covered. More information on the Blue Rx program and what it will mean for you will be developed and shared in the coming weeks and months. Make sure you are able to sign in to the BCNU member portal.

This is an inclusive and historic agreement for all nurses, uniting LPNs, RNs and RPNs across all sectors, including community. In addition, this agreement greatly advances the profession of nursing by giving nurses a stronger voice in the shaping of health care policy. Progress will be made in establishing a culture of safety with a new provincial framework for violence prevention and safety improvements.

There are new funds for nurses' education and opportunities to address optimizing scope of practice and increase career development. This contract will also provide opportunities for nurses who are off work and injured to be accommodated more quickly so they can return to their profession. Key job security provisions will keep nurses in acute care, community or long-term care on the job and caring for patients, while providing new job opportunities, education, and earnings and benefits protection.

This contract has taken a great deal of effort from your bargaining team, and from nurses who also fought hard for adequate staffing at their worksites. It has not been easy to achieve all that we have, especially when other unions settled for so much less. The "me first" clause in this agreement makes sure we will lead the way in future negotiations. For more details, please review the summaries, actual language and wage grids behind the BCNU member portal.