Listen to the broadcast version of this story, which aired on Monday, May 25, on Kootenay Morning:
By Jaime Frederick, Local Journalism Initiative
After the vast majority of BC nurses voted in favour of striking earlier this month, a tentative agreement has been reached for a new collective agreement between the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) provincial bargaining committee and the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC).
Following months of difficult negotiations and a strike vote, the tentative agreement includes improvements to benefits coverage and access to enhanced mandate monies in addition to the government’s general wage increase of 12 per cent over four years. The agreement also addresses priorities nurses identified throughout bargaining, including workplace safety, violence prevention measures, and other measures to improve working conditions for nurses across BC. The bargaining association also negotiated an agreement with the province’s Ministry of Health to secure significant additional funding to continue implementing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.
In a statement, BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) president Adriane Gear credited the solidarity of nurses across the province in helping the negotiators reach a new tentative agreement.
“This tentative agreement was reached because nurses across British Columbia came together and showed they were prepared to fight for meaningful change,” she said. “The record strike mandate shifted the balance of power at the bargaining table and gave the committee the leverage to push harder, stay at the table longer, and secure meaningful gains for nurses across the province. The bargaining committee believes this represents the strongest agreement achievable through negotiations in this round of bargaining.”
The HEABC says that the tentative agreement supports the government’s key priorities to protect and strengthen critical services in BC’s public sector, maintain labour stability in a complex round of bargaining and support the province’s efforts to find operational efficiencies that preserve front-line services.
HEABC President and CEO Michael McMillan said in a statement: “We are very pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the Nurses’ Bargaining Association, which includes fair wage increases, sustainable and improved benefits, and provisions to improve working conditions for nurses.”
The tentative agreement was reached after the NBA announced an impasse at the bargaining table on April 21, 2026. On May 12, the BCNU announced that 98.2 per cent of its members had voted in favour of a strike mandate. The two parties returned to the table that day.
The proposed agreement will now move through the ratification process, allowing nurses across British Columbia the opportunity to review and vote on it. The NBA is unanimously recommending that its members ratify the agreement in a vote which will take place from June 15 to 19, 2026.
