Burnaby (BCNU) – The Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) has accepted recommendations for settlement put forward by special mediators Amanda Rogers and Vince Ready and have put an end to all province-wide job action effective midnight tonight.
The non-binding recommendations address some of the major concerns nurses had with the tentative agreement reached on May 22, as well as actions for all parties to take to address serious, systemic issues including workplace violence in health care, and the prevalence of nurses performing non-nursing duties which continue to pull them away from patient care.
“This has been the longest nurses’ strike in BC’s history, and it was the collective strength, determination and solidarity of more than 55,000 nurses that brought us to this point,” says BCNU President Adriane Gear. “Our members changed the conversation by forcing government and health employers to confront the realities of nursing and the challenges facing our public health-care system.”
For more than three weeks, nurses have participated in unprecedented job action across the province, including rotating picket lines at hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, as well as a province-wide refusal of non-nursing duties and restrictions on overtime.
The NBA thanks mediators Amanda Rogers and Vince Ready for their assistance throughout several days of intensive mediation, and extends its sincere gratitude to patients, families, labour partners and communities across British Columbia for their unwavering support throughout the dispute.
“We are deeply grateful to British Columbians who supported nurses throughout this process,” said Gear. “You strengthened our resolve and reminded nurses that this fight was never just about us—it was about protecting the future of public health care in British Columbia.”
The recommendations are now with members for their review over the coming days. While that process is underway, BCNU will not be providing further public comment on the substance of the recommendations.
