BC Nurses Issue 72-Hour Strike Notice

The BC Nurses Union has issued a 72-hour strike notice, meaning nurses across the province could start taking job action starting July 2 at noon.

The union has been trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with its employer, the Health Employers Association of BC, after the previous agreement expired in March 2025.

“We understand that this announcement may create concern, and we don’t take it lightly,” said BCNU president Adriane Gear at a press conference Monday.

Nurses are taking “every step possible” to ensure there are no disruptions to health care, Gear said.

She added that the Health Employers Association of BC has requested to continue discussions since the union issued the strike notice.

In an emailed statement, the Health Employers Association of BC said “returning to the bargaining table is the most effective way to resolve outstanding issues while minimizing the impact on the people of B.C.,” and that it is available to meet with the union anytime.

It added that it hopes to be able to negotiate mutually beneficial solutions that support government’s key priorities, but that further details “are best kept to the bargaining table.”

In early May, BCNU’s 53,000 members voted overwhelmingly in support of the strike vote after six months of bargaining.

On May 21 the Health Employers Association of BC and Nurses Bargaining Association reached a tentative 2025-2029 collective agreement. On June 19 the tentative agreement was rejected after 67 per cent of unionized nurses voted against it.

On Monday Gear said the exact requests that the union is making will stay at the bargaining table, but added that the union wants their employer to address benefits, general wages, retention, overtime and ensuring nurse-to-patient ratios.

The current mandate does not cover what nurses need, she said.

Gear said it’s “frustrating” that the province isn’t willing to spend money to retain its nurses, but is willing to spend “over half a billion dollars” on private agency nurses and hundreds of millions on the FIFA World Cup games.

Agency nurses are nurses who work for private, for-profit companies who are contracted to work for health authorities, rather than working directly for health authorities.

While the province pays for agency nurses, there are around 4,500 public, unionized nursing positions that are vacant across the province, which makes it harder for health care teams to deliver care, Gear said.

When the health care system is under strain, violence against health-care workers goes up, with hospitals sometimes acting as “pressure cookers” for frustrated patients, or family members with loved ones who are in pain or waiting for care.

Workplace injury rates, which include assault, have increased by 25 per cent since 2019, which translates to one nurse leaving on a WorkSafeBC claim every 16 hours, Gear said.

In May Gear told The Tyee job action from the BCNU could include “working to rule,” where nurses start and end their shift on time and take their scheduled breaks, in contrast to how nurses often stay late and do not take their scheduled breaks.

A next step could include banning non-nursing duties such as answering phones, cleaning, delivering meal trays or running to the blood bank or pharmacy, she said. These extra duties would have to be taken on by managers.

The union could also restrict overtime and set up information picket lines, she said.

On Monday Gear said, “this province runs on overtime” and that the union would be mindful how disruptive restricting overtime could be.

Withdrawing labour would be a last resort, she said, adding she hopes “we don’t have to take this extraordinary step.”

The last time nurses withdrew labour in B.C. was in 2001, she added.