Community Health

Latest:  As negotiations resume, the bargaining committee met with the employer January 19-23 and on February 2-6, with additional dates booked for February 17-20, 2026. They are focused on meaningful movement back at the table with a strong strike mandate in hand.

Who is the CBA?

The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) represents unionized workers in B.C.’s community health sector across seven unions. Its bargaining committee – made up of union members and representatives – negotiates the CBA collective agreement covering almost 26,000 workers province wide.

What is community health?

Community health workers provide care across B.C. in seniors’ care (home support workers and care aides), mental health and substance use services, adult day programs, detox and emergency shelters, supportive housing, women’s health clinics, regional health units, administrative support, and other community-based health services.

What are the issues on the table?

In addition to equal pay for equal work, workers are demanding fair treatment on par with other HEABC health care workers – including fair funding of their benefits, fair overtime rules and protection against precarious scheduling. Specifically:

  • Fair funding for their benefits. Just like the FBA, their benefit trust deserves full funding retroactive to 2021.
  • Fair access to overtime. They want to see the expansion of overtime by seniority to ensure overtime opportunities are allocated fairly, curtailing assignments offered by convenience or through personal relationships.
  • Protection against ‘gig work’ scheduling. Community health workers deserve the same security of fixed shifts and breaks that other health care workers have had for decades. They need protections to ensure employers cannot return to the precarious scheduling practices they endured for 30 years.
  • Equal pay for equal work. Wages, shift premiums, vacation, and other monetary entitlements must be brought up to the same level as other HEABC health care workers doing the same work, ensuring fairness and equity across the sector.

Negotiations timeline: 

Negotiations with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) began on March 4, 2025. On October 3, 2025, the CBA bargaining committee reached an impasse in negotiations with HEABC and the provincial government. A strike authorization vote opened November 3 and closed on November 27, 2025. On November 27, 2025, CBA members voted 92.3% in favour of authorizing job action, if necessary, to secure a fair deal.

Quick facts: 

  • The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) agreement is negotiated with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC). 
  • Total workers covered by the agreement: almost 26,000. 
  • The BCGEU is the lead union of the multi-union CBA representing almost 16,000 members. 
  • About 10,000 members of the CBA belong to six other unions including UFCW, HEU, HSA, CUPE, USWA and BCNU.  
  • The previous CBA collective agreement took effect April 1, 2022 and expired on March 31, 2025.