B.C. reaches transition agreement with long-term care, assisted living workers

British Columbia Health Minister Josie Osborne says a new agreement will make thousands of health care workers eligible for collective bargaining again, but it will cost the province an additional $85 million.

More than 5,000 unionized workers in eligible long-term care and assisted living facilities will transition to the provincewide Facilities Collective Agreement over the next two years after the former Liberal government imposed wage cuts of 15 per cent in 2004.

Osborne says the transition will mean higher wages and improved benefits for workers and better care for seniors by making the jobs more attractive for workers.

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The agreement affects workers at more than 100 facilities that are part of the Health Employers Association of B.C., which receive at least 50 per cent of their funding from government.

Lynn Bueckert, secretary-business manager with the Hospital Employees’ Union, says the agreement is an “important step toward restoring a level playing field for working and caring conditions in provincially funded seniors’ care homes.”

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Bueckert says in a news release that the policies of past B.C. Liberal governments encouraged “privatization and subcontracting, allowing operators to opt out of the provincewide collective agreements.”

Osborne says the changes announced Monday mark a return to that “consistent framework across publicly funded work sites.”

But the minister also acknowledged the agreement does not cover those facilities that receive less than 50 per cent of government funding, saying there is “more work to do.”

The agreement is “subject to ratification votes,” which are expected to conclude by Dec. 20.

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