British Columbia’s nurses have reached a “breaking point” with burnout, the rising threat of violence and constant staffing shortages, setting off a 72-hour strike notice, union president Adriane Gear said Monday.
It comes just weeks after its members voted 67 per cent to reject a tentative contract offer that had been negotiated between the union’s leadership and the Health Employers Association of B.C.
“For many nurses, this is more than a collective agreement,” Gear said at the news conference announcing the strike notice. “It is about a profession that has reached a breaking point. It is about nurses who can no longer stay silent as they watch experienced and novice colleagues leave the profession injured and burnt out.”
The union, which represents 60,000 members, is now in a legal position to strike starting Thursday at noon if no progress is made in negotiations.
The tentative agreement rejected by union members offered a 12-per-cent wage increase over four years and other improved benefits.
Gear said the rejection is a signal of growing frustration by the members as the pressures increase on their profession and the health-care system.
She said among the frustrations is deteriorating workplace safety, where violence in health care is seen on a monthly — if not daily — basis.
Nurses say that violence is most visible in emergency departments, strained by staffing shortages and rising demand for services.
Gear said the ER work environment is like a “pressure cooker.
Among the developments adding to the nurses’ frustration, Gear said, is the B.C. government’s priority of other investments despite its financial restraints.
She referenced the World Cup, where seven games have been or are scheduled for Vancouver.
“This government has shown it can find resources when something is a priority. For example, over half-a-billion dollars spent on private-agency nursing, or hundreds of millions to host an international sporting event,” she said.
The union said job action — if it were to happen — could take the form of anything from an overtime ban to a larger-scale withdrawal of services, excluding those that are designated as essential.
Jim Gould, the union’s chief negotiator, said in a statement that nurses have reached a point where they want to shine a light on crowded hospitals and understaffed facilities.
Before reaching the tentative deal that was rejected, nurses had voted 98.2 per cent in favour of authorizing strike action in their labour dispute with the province.
This report by Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press, was first published June 29, 2026.