B.C.’s patient transfer workers hold practice picket after voting to authorize strike action
Posted July 27, 2026 8:32 am.
Last Updated July 28, 2026 11:36 am.
The union representing more than 200 of B.C.’s patient transfer workers held a practice picket outside Surrey Memorial Hospital Monday evening.
This came after an announcement earlier in the day that it had voted 89 per cent in favour of authorizing strike action.
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1724 says members are asking their employer, Abbotsford-based Hospital Transfers, for higher wages, more respectful treatment, and better working conditions.
“These workers do back-breaking labour transporting thousands of British Columbians on stretchers and in wheelchairs, yet many of these full-time workers are forced to access food banks just to survive,” said union president Joe McCann.
“There is no justification why the private equity firm that employs these workers, which currently holds a contract worth half a billion dollars with the Provincial Health Services Authority, is refusing to pay them a living wage.”
The union says Hospital Transfers — a division of SN Transport Ltd. — was awarded a $483 million contract by the provincial government in 2023.
CityNews has reached out to Hospital Transfers for comment.
