Close to 150 nurses employed by Northern Health Authority and the Provincial Health Services Authority are rallying this afternoon in downtown Vancouver to call for safer working conditions and to draw attention to the critical issues plaguing the health-care system.
The lunch-hour rally will include speeches from President Adriane Gear as well as nurse representatives of the BC Nurses’ Union’s North East and North West regions.
Nurses are calling on health employers to improve working conditions and address staffing shortages in rural and northern communities, as well as chronic workplace safety issues that are impacting both nurses and patients.
The event is part of a two-day regional bargaining conference organized by BCNU in Vancouver, where nurses are laying out their bargaining priorities and identifying common challenges ahead of Nurses’ Bargaining Association contract negotiations set to begin this year.