A copy of these internal communications shared with PressProgress shows a strike vote is officially one of the options facing workers, if the province insists on putting limits on the nurses’ benefits package — particularly targeting massages and physiotherapy — which is currently 100% covered by the province. This comes after a June Castanet report of nurses at one BC hospital saying they would be willing to go on strike over cuts to their benefits.

“For nurses with chronic pain… it would be kind of a cruel move to take that away,” said Kat, whose name has been changed upon request, to prevent potential backlash from her employer for speaking to media. “They’re going to have more nurses with injuries and pain and [taking] sick time.”

Massages and physiotherapy might sound extravagant, but for nurses they really aren’t. Nurses physically exert themselves a lot helping people with reduced strength and/or mobility (so that patients can retain some mobility and independence; ie, ‘use it or lose it’), and people are a lot harder to move than boxes or objects with handles. Once a nurse suffers a back injury, it could take them a year to return to regular duties, if at all. One bad lift can end a nursing career, which is costly both for the nurse and the healthcare system. (Not to mention there’s already a general retention problem in nursing.)