BC nurses begin picketing Vancouver General Hospital as strike escalates over pay
Union maintaining essential services but refusing overtime as 98% of nearly 51,000 nurses voted for job action.
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The BC Nurses' Union is putting pickets around Vancouver General Hospital starting July 8, escalating its strike over pay and working conditions.
The union is maintaining essential services to protect patient safety but has implemented a provincewide refusal of all non-essential overtime hours and non-nursing duties. This comes after 98.2 per cent of nearly 51,000 nurses voted in favour of job actions, and 67 per cent rejected a tentative agreement.
Union president Adriane Gear said nurses do not want to be on the picket line but the provincial government can no longer ignore the demands of the health-care system. "This government is not going to solve the nursing shortage without making serious improvements to nurses' working conditions," said Jim Gould, the union's chief executive officer.
Gould added that it is up to the provincial government to come to the table with an offer that respects nurses. The first phase of job action began Thursday, July 2, with the picket at the province's largest hospital marking a significant escalation.
