Care Can't Wait
Long-term care needs a long-term fix.
Together, we made a difference
Seniors in care depend on their caregivers. Consistent staffing means better care for seniors and a better quality of life for workers.
That’s why we’re so proud of the work Hospital Employees’ Union members and supporters have done – pushing for consistent working conditions across a sector that has relied on unpredictable and unfair working conditions for far too long.
The B.C. government’s recent decision to bring eligible publicly funded contracted seniors’ care operators into a more stable and consistent framework was reached as part of contract negotiations with more than 67,500 health care workers who work primarily in hospitals and long-term care homes across the province.
That means higher standards for wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions for more than 5,000 long-term health care and assisted living workers – and more reliable, consistent support for the seniors they provide care for every day.
We’ve seen what happens when governments do the opposite. When the BC Liberal government made major cuts and contracted out seniors’ care in the first part of the 2000s, workers were fired only to be rehired by their private sector employers for half the wage and without pensions and benefits.
Ever since, workers have fought for action to fix what was broken and to improve the lives of workers and seniors.
By listening to workers, the BC NDP government has taken meaningful steps, including:
Bringing more than 5,000 seniors’ care workers back into the public system – ensuring more stable staffing for seniors
Training and hiring more than 7,000 care aides through the Health Career Access Program (HCAP)
Delivering much-needed wage increases, pensions and benefits for health care workers who had been left behind by the previous government
Reversing privatization by bringing support service workers back into public health care
Fully funding the provincial guideline of an average 3.36 direct care hours per resident per day
There is still more to do to ensure that every seniors’ care worker has the same rights, and that every care home meets the same standards.
But together, we have made historic progress in improving the care provided to B.C. seniors.
Help us celebrate these wins for workers and seniors! Download and share the graphic below.
Together, let’s keep fighting for seniors’ care that is safe, consistent and fair for everyone involved.
