Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside has appointed two special mediators in the dispute between the B.C. Nurses’ Union and the Health Employers Association of B.C.
Long-time mediator Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers were named special mediators Friday, July 10, eight days after job action began.
Ready and Rogers will work with the two parties for 10 days with the aim of helping to reach a settlement, or if needed, to provide recommendations to the minister.
The ministry says the two were appointed under section 76 of the Labour Relations Code.
Premier David Eby alluded to the Ready and Rogers’ appointment hours earlier at an unrelated news conference. He said he was sure the goal on all sides is “to get the nurses back to work as soon as possible.”
“Our nurses are the glue that holds an incredibly strained system together and they deserve to be recognized for that.”
The appointment of the special mediators comes after the B.C. Nurses’ Union announced Thursday it would be expanding the picket lines across B.C. and after alleging employer threats and intimidation during job action.
B.C. Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear announced that the union would be beginning job action July 2 at noon after issuing a 72-hour strike notice on June 30. Since then, there have been picket lines outside of Vancouver General and Surrey Memorial hospitals.
The news of the picket-line expansion came Thursday as the union said it has once again reached an “impasse” in bargaining with the employer.
This is the second “impasse” in bargaining since April 20.
The union declared an impasse then after six months of bargaining, during with time the union said the Nurses’ Bargaining Association put forward many solutions to address the quality of patient care that British Columbians receive, only to see the majority of those proposals rejected by the Health Employers Association.
However, it was actually a previous ruling from Ready as an arbitrator that led to the declared impasse in April.
The union said Ready’s ruling regarding massage therapy benefits directed coverage for plan members and their dependents be capped at $1,427 in 2027 and $1,145 in 2028. Subsequent limits to massage therapy reimbursements would be determined based upon actuarial calculations.
An April 20 B.C. Nurses’ Union email obtained by Black Press Media says that Ready’s decision threatens the benefits members rely on. The email also says the cap will likely continue to decrease over time.
The union says there will still be no immediate changes before a new plan model is implemented Jan. 1, 2027.