A tentative agreement in facilities bargaining

The multi-union Facilities Bargaining Association and B.C.'s health employers have reached a tentative two year agreement. It covers more than 48,000 hospital and long-term care workers. Roughly 2,000 belong to the BCGEU.

The overall framework of the tentative facilities agreement is similar to what we achieved in community health. In both sets of bargaining, we managed to make real progress on members' key priorities.

Bargaining has been tough. But I'm delighted we've been able to make some headway for our health workers and the British Columbians who depend on the services they provide.

Let's not forget both tentative agreements were reached against the backdrop of the B.C. government's zero wage increase mandate. There's more bad news in the offing as we await the government's post-Olympic budget, a budget that's expected to bring another round of cuts to health authorities.

We're recommending our members accept these two tentative agreements in health care.