B.C.’s nurses are now in a legal strike position and have begun targeted job action at worksites across the province.
The BC Nurses’ Union issued a 72-hour strike notice on Monday, saying it had yet to receive a meaningful response from its employer.
Beginning on Thursday, nurses will no longer perform non-nursing duties, allowing them to focus on the work they were trained to do—providing safe, quality patient care, the union said in a statement.
An example of non-nursing duties includes delivering lab specimens, picking up and dropping off patient’s medication, faxing, filing lab work, handing in monthly mileage for leased vehicles, checking and order stock drugs and supplies, handing out and picking up meal trays, changing light bulbs, relieving unit clerks and receptionists on their break, cleaning bathtubs and beds, making beds or folding laundry, moving furniture or changing sharps containers, to name a few.
In addition, nurses will be refusing all non-essential overtime hours.
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It is their first escalation of job action since members rejected a tentative deal last month, with the biggest issue being a general wage increase.
As an essential service, a minimum level of staffing for nurses must be maintained.
“This is not the outcome nurses wanted,” BCNU president Adriane Gear said in a statement.
“Throughout this process, nurses have been clear about what is needed to strengthen the profession and stabilize our health-care system. We have remained ready to bargain in good faith, but the government has not responded with the urgency this moment demands.”
Gear said nurses do not want to disrupt patient care.
The Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) wants the provincial government to return to the table with a mandate that meaningfully addresses nurses’ concerns.
A situation allowed to degrade by successive governments. Perhaps there’s a thought that nobody will notice while they’re in power.
It would be nice if one day, a thoughtful, fearless politician turned up, so everyone can hear the hard truth of the possible solutions to these messes.
Home support is right. They do less and less and want more and more money for doing less and less.
UNIONS ARE BAD because they force all low income people to hand over more money to others which makes them all even poorer and UNIONS do not care who they affect financially if they are NOT THEIR MONTHLY PAID MEMBERS.
Eby is more concerned with blocking trade, best of luck!
I am not with the nurses here but also a bit upset with the government . The abuse of overtime and manipulation is rampant amongst nurses. How is it that part timers are making overtime and triple time while calling in sick on regular shifts? It’s been uncontrolled since Covid and now the government has run out of money.
The stuff you say, the nurses aren’t gonna do they don’t even do now! they do not serve food and Take away food trays the kitchen staff do it and care aids, they don’t transfer patients from room to wherever they gotta go, the care aids do or porter’s, they don’t move patients in bed nor clean them nor assist them the care aids do, they don’t check for faulty equipment the maintenance crew do that after a care aid has pointed it out to a nurse, and that’s just at the hospital never mind home support, the care aids who do home support do all that job. So you’re telling me without the support that is the same at the hospital for home support patients are not gonna get the proper care. Are you kidding me? They don’t even come when there’s a critical wound care open passing and draining and when us carries show compassion and know how to do wound care do it themselves and then get reprimanded for it so what exactly are you not gonna do?
Why is it necessary to have three managers/management assistants for one manager position after covid?
Why is it necessary for one manager to manage another manager, and this manager in turn manages a manager assistant whose workload is less than a volunteer?
They’re not “abandoning” non nursing duties. They’re simply doing the job their supposed to do and no extra. Way to have skewed reporting global