Outstanding compensation issues are expected to move to binding arbitration this fall after the Nurses’ Bargaining Association accepted settlement recommendations from special mediators Amanda Rogers and Vince Ready.
The association said the recommendations address key concerns nurses raised about the tentative agreement reached May 22, while also outlining steps for the union, employers and government to tackle longstanding issues such as workplace violence in health care and the growing number of non-nursing duties assigned to nurses.
The agreement brings an end to provincewide job action effective midnight July 25.
“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,” said BC Nurses’ Union 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 took part in job action across the province, including rotating picket lines at hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, as well as a provincewide refusal to perform non-nursing duties and restrictions on overtime.
The Nurses’ Bargaining Association thanked mediators Amanda Rogers and Vince Ready for their work during several days of intensive mediation. It also thanked patients, families, labour partners and communities across British Columbia for their support during 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.”
Union members will review the recommendations over the coming days. The BC Nurses’ Union said it will not comment publicly on the substance of the recommendations while that process is underway.
