By Jaime Frederick, Local Journalism Initiative
Listen to the broadcast version of this story that aired on Kootenay Morning on May 22:
Last week, BC nurses voted overwhelmingly in support of job action, with 98.2 per cent voting in favour of going on strike if they are unable to secure a fair collective agreement in their ongoing negotiations with the Health Employers Association of BC.
BC Nurses’ Union President and Chair of the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) provincial bargaining committee, Adriane Gear, said in an interview with Local Journalism Initiative reporter Pamela Haasen from Smithers, BC, that the strike mandate is almost unprecedented, as BC nurses have not voted to strike in more than 25 years.
“What it means is that we have a very strong mandate from the membership that backs the bargaining committee,” said Gear. “And what we went to the membership saying is, ‘We need to take this strike vote because we’ve reached an impasse.’ So the strike vote, it puts us in a legal position to take job action. However, that is not what we want to do. We want to get a deal at the table.”
Gear says that impasse was at least partly related to the union’s desire to include a discussion of benefits in the collective bargaining process. To date, she says, the Health Employers Association has not been receptive to that idea.
“We need strong paramedicals [benefits]… so that nurses – who are experiencing physical and psychological injury on the job every day – to keep them healthy and fit so that they can actually continue to care for patients at the bedside. But what the fight is about is even being able to negotiate them at the bargaining table, because the employer has been resistant so far.”
Gear points out that working conditions have deteriorated over time. Injury rates for BC nurses have gone up by 25 per cent since 2019, with incidents of workplace violence rapidly rising, as well. And she notes that the situation can be especially bad in rural and remote communities.
“What we want to see is relational security officers in all facilities,” says Gear. “The more rural, remote facilities, they don’t have any provision of security. And they rely on RCMP response, for example, which may or may not be effective… {T]here are some rural and remote communities where RCMP are only on call overnight. Or that geographically what they cover is so vast that a response time–they’re doing their best, but it’s certainly not a reasonable response. In rural and remote communities, the risk of violence exists, and there’s very little to mitigate and to ensure that nurses are kept safe.”
Despite these conditions, Gear says that even if the collective bargaining process breaks down, nurses’ first step would likely not be to walk off the job. Rather they might choose to work to rule or refuse to perform duties that are not in their job description.
“Delivering meal trays, going to the pharmacy to pick up medications, going to the blood bank to pick up blood–all those things still need to happen,” says Gear. “But what’s happened over the years is like, ‘Oh, we’ll just get the nurse to do it, just get the nurse to do it.’
“When you think about the fact that we are not only in a provincial, national, and international nursing shortage, why are we using nurses to perform tasks that can be carried out by other people?”
Gear says nurses will do everything they can to take job action that does not disrupt patient care. And she believes the public will support nurses in their efforts to improve their working conditions with the end goal of improving health care for patients in BC.
“Nurses have been here for patients, for the residents of BC, throughout the pandemic and beyond,” she says. “They have shown up each and every day despite unsafe working conditions, not having enough nurses to actually provide the care, and [they are] holding up the system. And so the last thing we want to do is to further impact patient care, and we will do everything in our power not to do that.
“And we need the public to support us right now. This isn’t something we’ve done in over 25 years. This isn’t a path we chose lightly. And I think for the most part, the public does appreciate and support nurses.”
