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Nurses in B.C. could be headed for job action following an “overwhelming” strike vote over the weekend.
According to the B.C. Nurses Union, more than 50,000 nurses voted 98.2 per cent in favour of job action, after six months of bargaining.
The union says it’s the strongest strike mandate in its history.
“This vote is a defining moment,” union president Adriane Gear said in a news release. “Nurses across British Columbia are demanding the respect, safety and fair contract they deserve.”
In its new contract, the union wants to see systemic risks minimized, to mitigate pressures nurses face — like unsafe staffing levels, workplace violence and heavy workloads.
The results of the vote do not mean nurses will strike imminently, but that they are now legally allowed to take some form of job action as negotiations continue.
“Nurses do not want to be in this position,” Gear said. “Yet they are prepared to fight for the future of nursing and for a health-care system that is safe, sustainable and able to retain the nurses that patients rely on.”
This comes as B.C. continues to grapple with a years-long health-care crisis.
