BC Nurses’ Union to begin first phase of job action Thursday
Posted July 2, 2026 9:08 am.
The BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) says it is set to begin job action at 12:01 p.m. Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!Union president Adriane Gear says this comes after members have not had a “meaningful response” from health employers since issuing a 72-hour-strike notice Monday.
This is the first phase of job action, Gear says.
“Provincially, we will be banning non-nursing duties and restricting overtime,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.
“Our hope is that this will apply pressure on employers while minimizing any disruption on patient care. The last thing we want to do is to impact our patients, our clients, or our residents. So that’s what we’re hoping, that we will limit things to overtime.”
Gear says they are restricting non-nursing duties, but members would never withdraw labour completely.
“We are an essential service…so [the planned job action] unfortunately would still cause some service disruption,” she said.
“But we, as nurses and as healthcare professionals, would ensure that we maintain service levels of staffing.”
She says health employers have made it clear they are willing to meet and have discussions, but they “have also made it very clear that they have no ability to move outside of the provincial mandate that all public sector unions have been required to negotiate under.”
The mandate, she says, is a general wage increase of three per cent per year if four-year-dear deal is signed.
“For us, that is not adequate. My members have been very clear. They rejected the tentative agreement by 67 per cent, and that was upwards of about 43,000 nurses voting.”
It comes down to working conditions, Gear says.
“Simply stated, there are not enough nurses. This is a supply-and-demand issue, and it’s also a conversation about priorities.
She says that at any given time, there are about 4,500 health-care staffing job vacancies in B.C.
“This isn’t nurses occasionally working short-staffed. Day in and day out…there’s not enough of us to provide the care that patients require and deserve.”
Lack of staffing means workplace injuries have increased among nurses, she says.
“One nurse every 16 hours goes off on a WorkSafe BC claim due to violence. Daily, we are not able to meet care requirements for our patients. And that itself not only takes a toll on patient safety, but it takes a toll on and leads to psychological injury for nurses and burnout.”
On Monday, Health Minister Josie Osborne said the provincial government respects the right of all workers to bargain, “including the decision by union members to take job action.”
