A group of about two dozen nurses marched to the office of Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond on Wednesday asking that promises made in their most recent contract be honoured.
The British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) signed a two-year contract last year, which called for the hiring of more than 2,000 nurses in the next three years and ensuring nurses' skills are used to their full potential.
Chanting slogans like "keep the promise" and "hey, hey, ho, ho, understaffing has to go" the nurses from across the north who descended on Prince George for union meetings were seeking assurances from Bond that their issues won't get lost in the shuffle after last week's provincial election.
"There were new things in the contract like replacing nurses that are working in community and public health for at least two weeks of their vacation time," BCNU north east regional lobby co-ordinator Hanna Embree said. "This is not being done and this has not traditionally been done, so when nurses go on vacation their work builds up and they have two weeks worth of work waiting for them when they come back."
The union also wants assurances that nurses will be staffed based on patient needs, rather than budget constraints and nurses will be given a role in healthcare planning.
Bond stepped out of her office to address the group on the sidewalk and said she appreciated the work that nurses do and saw first hand how valuable they are last year when her husband Bill had heart surgery.
The justice minister said she will take the information package the nurses gave her to Victoria and bring it up with her Liberal colleagues.
"We made a commitment and we should be expected to keep it," Bond told the group. "We know that great outcomes in healthcare come from having great healthcare professionals."
