Home / Health / Historic Deal for B.C. Care Workers
Historic Deal for B.C. Care Workers
3 Dec, 2025
Summary
- New agreement aims to recruit and retain long-term care staff.
- Over 5,000 workers transition to provincewide agreement.
- Agreement costs province $85 million, affecting over 100 facilities.
The Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) has reached a historic collective agreement aimed at enhancing care for residents in long-term and assisted living facilities. This initiative focuses on improving staff recruitment and retention, a critical factor for better patient outcomes. The agreement is expected to lead to more consistent staffing, benefiting seniors and their families.
Over the next two years, more than 5,000 unionized workers in eligible facilities will transition to the provincewide Facilities Collective Agreement. This move will provide them with increased wages and enhanced benefits, rectifying previous wage cuts from 2004. The HEU highlighted how past policies encouraged privatization, leading to the opt-out of such agreements.
The provincial government is investing $85 million in this agreement, which covers over 100 facilities with significant public funding. While this is seen as a major step towards restoring equity, the government acknowledges further work is needed for facilities with less than 50 percent public funding. Ratification votes are scheduled to conclude by December 20th.
