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BC Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear speaks as union members picket outside Surrey Memorial Hospital on July 9.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The union representing 55,000 nurses in British Columbia has accepted a mediated proposal that could end its weeks-long strike action.
The BC Nurses’ Union says in a statement that its bargaining agent has accepted the recommendations for settlement from mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers, and all job action will cease as of midnight Friday.
The union says its members will review the offer, while outstanding issues on compensation are anticipated to move to binding arbitration this fall.
Nurses have been conducting strike action since the start of July after members voted to reject a tentative contract reached in May between the union and the Health Employers Association of B.C.
While essential services were set, the members refused certain overtime and to do non-nursing duties, which union president Adriane Gear has said led to thousands of complaints from nurses about intimidation from their employer when taking job action.
The union says the non-binding recommendations address some of the major concerns the members had when they rejected the last deal, and it also addresses systemic issues, including workplace violence and the performance of non-nursing duties.
“This has been the longest nurses’ strike in B.C.’s history, and it was the collective strength, determination and solidarity of more than 55,000 nurses that brought us to this point,” Gear said in a statement.
“Our members changed the conversation by forcing government and health employers to confront the realities of nursing and the challenges facing our public health-care system.”
No details of the recommendations have been released.