BC’s Health Minister is defending last week’s deal giving BC nurses pay raises amounting to more than seven per cent over two years.
Margaret MacDiarmid says the agreement, which must still be ratified by 32-thousand members of the BC Nurses Union, falls within the government’s ‘net zero’ mandate, but she’s reluctant to explain how taxpayers are expected to save any money.
“‘Cause I really feel the nurses don’t want to hear the details from the minister of health. They want hear them from their own leadership and they’re going to get a chance to really understand the deal and then, I really hope they’ll approve and then we can talk about how we got there.”
If approved by nurses in their October 18th vote, their full-time work week will be extended to 37.5 hours from 36.
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