B.C. hospital techs lose bargaining bid to align with other health professionals

The refusal by the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (LRB) to allow hospital pharmacy technicians to transfer bargaining units from the Hospital Employees Union’s (HEU) Facilities Bargaining Unit to the Health Sciences Union’s (HSU) Paramedical Professionals Bargaining Unit (PPBU) came as a bitter blow. For more than four years, hospital technicians in the province, spearheaded by RPhT Eric Sletmoen and MRT Julie Griffiths and supported by the Pharmacy Technician Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Association of Pharmacy Technicians and the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, have been consistently fundraising for legal fees to submit the application. At a hearing last fall, pharmacist E. Spencer Tuttle, executive director of Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services, gave evidence on behalf of the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) opposing the transfer—a major disappointment that left techs feeling their profession had been disrespected and misrepresented. Read: Tech participates in patient care-focused hospital pilot As the HEU bargaining unit also represents dietary, housekeeping, laundry and maintenance workers, hospital pharmacy technicians believe their credentials, especially as their scope has evolved, are better suited to the paramedical group and that they fulfill all the criteria to join the bargaining unit that covers pharmacists and other medical technical professions. The techs felt by aligning with other similar professionals, they could gain more influence at the bargaining table, push for better wages that would reflect the scope and complexity of their duties and advance the pharmacy technician profession. In a 41-page decision, posted April 5 at Salesforce, the LRB laid out its decision, concluding that, “on the whole of the evidence, I find RPhTs employed in hospital pharmacy facilities at hospital sites in British Columbia under the direction and control of the regional health authorities do not meet the criteria set out in the Paramedical Inquiry decision and thus should be included in the Facilities Bargaining Unit.” As there is only a 15-day window to appeal the decision, that avenue will not be pursued. Another application would need to start from scratch with a new legal team, new funding in excess of $40,000, new research projects to show scope enhancements, a dedicated team to handle all the background logistics—and the list goes on. But as one pharmacy technician put it, “it’s been a journey, but we are definitely not giving up. We just have to take another approach and it may take time."

B.C. hospital techs lose bargaining bid to align with other health professionals

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