Union representing 55,000 B.C. nurses prepares for strike vote after talks fail
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BURNABY – The president of the BC Nurses’ Union says she’s expecting a strike vote in the coming weeks after contract talks involving about 55,000 nurses in the province broke off on Monday.
Adriane Gear says the union and the Health Employers Bargaining Association are at an impasse over issues, including benefits, and that nurses would be in a position to take job action 72 hours after a vote to strike.
The union represents registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and psychiatric nurses in health authorities across the province working in hospitals, non-hospital settings and long-term care facilities.
Gear says the union is recommending a strike vote that will likely take “a couple of weeks” to hold after it provides members with a summary of what has happened to date.
She says while issues around benefits are top-of mind, the union is also concerned about pay and wants a sustained funding agreement from the province to implement an agreement on nursing ratios that was signed in 2023.
The nurses’ last contract expired in March of 2025 with talks starting last October, and Gear says an agreement laying out essential services in the event of job action has already been negotiated.
She says there are currently about 4,500 vacant nursing positions in the province that are not able to be filled and that every 16 hours a workplace claim is accepted from a nurse that will require time off work.
“Forty-five hundred nurses short, it makes it really difficult to carry that burden, day in and day out. And then, when you look at government’s own data and their projections based on the 2025 labour market outlook, government projects that they’re going to need more than 33,000 nurses by 2035,” she said.
“So, at the bargaining table, it’s just very frustrating that we’re not looking at proactive ways to not only recruit nurses, but retain them in the system, keep them safe.”
She said she’s hopeful a strong strike mandate will help the two sides get through the impasse.
“Just the fact that we are taking a strike vote does not mean automatically we are going to withdraw labour,” she said.
“We are hoping that that will have some impact on the system and that people will realize that nurses are amazing advocates, and now it’s time that we advocate for ourselves.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026