The Communist Party of BC stands in solidarity with striking nurses in their struggle for a new collective agreement. Their calls for more staffing, safer working conditions and a fair wage impact all of us who rely on public services in our daily lives. This is a fight against austerity, privatization and the degradation of a healthcare system that working people depend on in our most vulnerable moments.
On June 19, 2026, members of the Nurses Bargaining Association rejected a tentative collective agreement with the Health Employers Association of BC. Nurses stood together and said no to a deal that does not meet their basic demands.
Approximately 62,000 nurses employed across the province in regional health authorities, provincial health agencies, long-term care facilities, and contracted health service providers started job action with an overtime ban and a ban on all non-nursing duties on July 2. Picket lines have since been established across the Province.
This is the first significant job action escalation by BC nurses since 2001, and it does not come out of the blue. Austerity and private industry lobbyists have been slowly eroding the BC public healthcare system for decades. Cost-cutting measures have produced staffing shortages, overwork, and a decline in the quality of patient care.
There were over 1,800 healthcare workplace violence claims in 2023, and nurses experienced over 500 of those violent incidents. According to the BC Nurses’ Union, approximately 26 nurses per month report suffering a violent injury to WorkSafeBC, while survey-based estimates suggest that around 70% of violent incidents go unreported. Nurses, like all workers, have the right to a safe work environment, and strong occupational health and safety protections.
Wages for nurses and other healthcare workers have fallen behind inflation and the rising cost of living in BC. Despite working full-time in hospitals and health facilities, many nurses are no longer able to meaningfully build savings or consistently afford basic necessities such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare. Real wage stagnation, combined with sustained workload increases and persistent understaffing, has placed significant financial and personal strain on frontline health care workers.
The government and the Health Employers Association must come to the table ready and willing to meaningfully improve working conditions in our hospitals and healthcare facilities by reducing workloads, increasing nurse-to-patient ratios, and properly staffing our public services, instead of relying on the unpaid labour of nurses going above and beyond the scope of their duties.
The impacts of cuts to public services are borne on the backs of working people. The BC government is increasingly responding to fiscal pressure by shifting toward privatization. The result is a healthcare capacity that is below demand, with emergency departments and surgical wait times that are putting people’s lives at risk.
The Communist Party of BC continues to call for the expansion of universally accessible, publicly funded healthcare. We oppose the privatization and commercialization of the healthcare system while demanding increased funding for and staffing of our public services. We stand in solidarity with nurses who are demanding the fundamental changes necessary to protect their working conditions, real wages, and the public health care system we all rely on when we need it most.