BC nurses vote 98.2% to authorize job action amid stalled contract talks

Thousands of nurses in British Columbia have voted overwhelmingly to authorize job action, a union said, after contract negotiations with the Health Employers Association of British Columbia stalled and an impasse was declared in April. The BC Nurses Union said a strike mandate was approved by 98.2 per cent of the roughly 50,800 to 51,000 nurses who voted between May 8 and May 11, out of about 55,000 members eligible to vote.

Union president Adriane Gear, who also chairs the Nurses Bargaining Association’s provincial bargaining committee, said the vote is intended to strengthen the union’s position at the bargaining table for a new collective agreement. “This vote is a defining moment,” Gear said. She attributed the union’s resort to a strike vote to what it described as rejected proposals and concerns including crushing workloads, unsafe staffing levels, and limited protection for workplace violence and occupational health and safety.

Negotiations between the union and the employers association began after the previous agreement expired in March 2025 and continued for about six months before talks broke off on April 20, when an impasse was declared. The union said its...