B.C. nurses pause picket lines as mediated contract talks continue

Nurses hold signs outside Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria during job action by the B.C. Nurses’ Union before picket lines were paused as mediation resumed.

Picket lines outside B.C. health-care facilities are coming down Tuesday night as the B.C. Nurses’ Union returns to mediated contract negotiations with health employers.

The union says all picket lines will come down by 9 p.m. Tuesday as a gesture of good faith while mediation continues. Tuesday marked the final day of rotational picketing outside Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital.

Although the picket lines are ending for now, the union’s provincewide ban on non-nursing duties remains in effect. The BCNU says it will resume picketing if it determines further job action is necessary.

“I think there’s a significant gap,” BCNU president Adriane Gear said.

“I think the province can bridge it if they prioritize health care and they prioritize nursing. But that is up to the government. They need to decide when this dispute will end.”

Gear said the union returned to the bargaining table last week and was able to make some progress with health employers but said they are limited by the government’s bargaining mandate.

“We were able to tweak a couple of things that could have some impact, but at the end of the day, the health employers have made it very clear, and I respect their boundary on this, they can’t go beyond that mandate. It will require government intervention.”

The latest round of mediation follows the rejection of a tentative agreement that included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years.

“At the end of the day, the mandate doesn’t go far enough,” Gear said.

South Island regional council member Cait Jarvis said nurses remain hopeful mediation will produce an agreement that better reflects what members have been asking for.

“I’m hearing they didn’t feel valued, and they didn’t feel respected by that,” Jarvis said of the rejected proposal.

She said the dispute goes beyond wages.

“The money is important, but it’s not the only important thing,” she said.

“Having safe staffing levels in the hospital would make so much of a difference to nurses’ working lives. They would be able to come to work, be able to care for their patients properly and be able to leave work and have some sort of balance.”

Jarvis said nurses continue to raise concerns about workloads, workplace violence, psychological safety and respect in the workplace as mediation continues.

The union says it will resume picketing if it determines further job action is necessary.