BC Nurses Escalate Strike by Picketing Major Hospitals

British Columbia’s 53,000 unionized nurses are escalating their job action and will start picketing hospitals on Vancouver Island over the weekend and into next week.

The nurses have been striking since July 2. They started by refusing non-nursing duties and ceasing overtime work. On Tuesday they further escalated their tactics by picketing Vancouver General Hospital.

The last time B.C. nurses went on strike was 1989.

Today the nurses are picketing Surrey Memorial Hospital, with plans to picket Victoria General Hospital on Sunday; Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on July 13; and Royal Jubilee Hospital and South Island Surgical Centre on July 14.

The nurses have rejected what their employer, the Health Employers Association, has been able to offer them.

There is “no indication” that the province is going to let the employer negotiate beyond its bargaining mandate, according to a press release the BC Nurses Union sent out earlier today.

The Health Employers Association told The Tyee in an email that it met with the Nurses Bargaining Association earlier this week. While some progress was made, the parties were unable to reach a new tentative agreement, the email said.

The HEA added that it “remains available to return to the bargaining table at any time,” and that it is “committed to reaching a negotiated settlement that is fair, responsible, and supports a sustainable public health-care system.”

The nurses’ union said its job action will not impact urgent and emergency care or patient safety.

On Tuesday union president Adriane Gear told media that nurses’ employers were not respecting their legal right to strike.

“Since July 2 at 12:01, instead of respecting nurses’ lawful job action, we’re hearing reports from nurses across the province that they are being intimidated and bullied for exercising our rights,” Gear said.

As of Thursday, the union said it had received more than 2,300 reports of employers coercing nurses with threats of discipline, warning nurses that they could face complaints to the BC College of Nurses and Midwives, and pressuring nurses to perform non-nursing duties and work overtime.

BCNU has filed an unfair labour practice application with the BC Labour Relations Board in response, asking them to intervene.

“Nurses should not have to fear retaliation for standing up for safer workplaces and for better care. This is unacceptable,” Gear said.

The nurses’ union has been trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement since its previous agreement expired in March 2025.

In early May, the union’s 53,000 nurses 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 collective agreement. But on June 19 the agreement was rejected after 67 per cent of unionized nurses voted against it. The union issued a 72-hours strike notice on June 29, and started job action July 2.

Last week Gear told The Tyee the union wants their employer to address benefits, general wages, retention, overtime and nurse-to-patient ratios, adding that the current mandate does not cover what nurses need.

The province also needs to address violence against staff in health-care facilities.

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.

“One of the most notable acts of violence on a health-care worker” happened at Vancouver General Hospital, where a nurse was “strangled to the point of being unconscious,” Gear said.

“Violence is not part of any job description,” she added.

There was a strong show of support from other unionized health care workers at Tuesday’s rally at Vancouver General Hospital.

Hospital Employees Union president Barb Nederpel and Health Sciences Association of BC president Sarah Kooner spoke in support of the nurses at Tuesday’s rally. Members of the BC General Employees Union, CUPE, teachers and the Canadian Animation Guild also attended.

On Thursday Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, attended the rally at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

“Nurses are standing together because we know the only way things will change is if we use our collective voice,” Gear said.