British Columbia's nurses say they are expanding job action in their labour dispute with the province, citing reports of employer intimidation at job sites.
The BC Nurses' Union says pickets will be launched at Vancouver General Hospital on Tuesday, with Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre joining the picketed list by Thursday.
The union says members will maintain essential services during the job action.
Union president Adriane Gear says the expanded pickets come after the group received more than 1,400 reports from members of "attempts by health employers to intimidate" nurses and interfere with their right to participate in job action.
Gear says in a statement that nurses are reporting being threatened with disciplinary measures, being pressured the perform non-nursing duties and forced to work unauthorized overtime.
The province did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"No nurse should be made to feel afraid for standing up for safer workplaces, better retention and a stronger public health-care system," Gear says, adding members are exercising their legal rights by partaking in job action including overtime bans and refusal of non-nursing duties.
"Every decision we've made throughout this process has been guided by our commitment to protecting patients and maintaining essential services," Gear says.
"But when employers refuse to respect nurses' legal rights and instead choose confrontation over meaningful engagement, they leave us with no choice but to increase the pressure."
A tentative agreement between the two sides' negotiators was rejected last month by members, with 67 per cent voting against the deal.
A month earlier, members had voted 98 per cent in favour of authorizing strike action in settling the labour dispute.
The union represents about 60,000 nurses across B.C.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
