Hundreds of nurses rallied in Surrey today to demand "safer working conditions and respect."
The event was part of a two-day regional bargaining conference organized by the BC Nurses鈥� Union. BC Nurses' Union (BCNU) president Adriane Gear said Fraser Health nurses from Surrey to Mission gathered to share "their bargaining priorities and identify common challenges ahead of contract negotiations set to begin next year."
The collective agreement is set to expire on March 31, 2025, so the BCNU is meeting with BCNU union delegates from health before bargaining starts to understand what the challenges are and what will keep people in nursing. This was one of seven bargaining conferences the BCNU has scheduled, and the union plans to have a provincial bargaining conference at the end of February.
Around lunchtime Thursday (Dec. 12), nearly 350 nurses walked along Scott Road near Aria Convention Centre, the site of a Fraser Health region bargaining conference involving BC Nurses鈥� Union members ahead of contract talks with the Provincial Health Services Authority, Providence Health Care and affiliate health employers.
"The rally was really just to highlight that the conditions of work are actually really poor when you consider some of the challenges nurses face with regards to their health and safety and also the staffing levels," Gear said.
During the last round of bargaining, minimum nurse-patient ratios were negotiated.
"There's a lot of work that has been done in a very collaborative fashion with with the Ministry of Health, and I wouldn't say that about everything, but I would say that about ratios, and to their credit, some of the health employers and I think it really means that if we can implement ratios, it creates safety, it creates improved care for patients and retains nurses.," Gear said.
Although progress has been made in working with the government to establish the ratios, more must be done to ensure nurses are safe to do their jobs, Gear said. "It's just so short-sighted not to start working on improving working conditions because we're just not going to be successful."
"We can recruit nurses to come to this province, but if the working conditions are such that they feel unsafe, they don't feel respected, we're not going to be successful at retaining people," Gear said. "And we have many nurses currently in the system that are worth retaining. The employer, including Fraser Health, does not seem that concerned with the retention of nurses, and so that's that's problematic."
that an average of 26 nurses a month suffer a violent injury at work in B.C. and nurses account for 31 per cent of injuries from "acts of violence" in the province.
The nurses at the bargaining conference and rally today said nothing has changed in terms of safety.
"Health and safety remain a huge issue, and nurses don't feel respected," Gear said. "They just feel like the employer treats them as sort of dispensable, and not taking their health and safety seriously."
"Where are we going to care for the people that are providing the care," Gear asked.
A safe workspace for nurses also ensures a safe space for patients as well.
"It's very disheartening that we can't meet our practice standards, that patients aren't getting the care that they require," Gear said. "Ratios gives us a lot of hope, and again, the sort of effort that the government has put into this and the commitment has been heartening, but we really worry that implementation won't be as successful as you need it to be if the employers don't start improving the conditions of work."
Another issue that Gear keeps hearing is the use of agency nurses.
"If health employers are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers money to pay for private nurses, why aren't you investing in the nurses that you have," Gear said. "It's not the nurses' fault. I don't want to vilify the agency nurse at all, like, thank you for coming and, you know, providing some assistance. You know, however it does create a situation that can be a bit demoralizing. You're working with someone who's making, like, considerably, a lot more money than you are and those nurses, they come in and they do what they can, but in terms of some of those other like administrative tasks and orientating people and all these things that go on really unrecognized and certainly uncompensated, agency nurses don't do any of that."
Earlier this week, nurses working for the Provincial Health Services Authority, Providence Health Care and affiliate health employers rallied in Burnaby on Tuesday (Dec. 10).
By the numbers: workplace safety for nurses in Fraser Health
The BCNU provided these statistics on workplace safety for nurses in the Fraser Health region:
At least once a month:
- 34% are exposed to weapons.
- 57% are exposed to illicit substances.
- 54% experience physical violence.
- 83% experience verbal or emotional abuse.
- 96% are working short staffed.
- 36% are seriously considering leaving nursing or are already making a plan to do so.
-With files from Tom Zillich
