BC RMT Workforce Alliance

Why does an entire BC Healthcare Workforce have no safety or labour protections?

The conversation can't stop at what happens after an incident occurs. It must also examine the workforce structures that leave practitioners vulnerable in the first place.

We cannot simultaneously acknowledge the realities of harassment, sexual violence, retaliation, false allegations, unsafe working conditions, and professional vulnerability while defending a workforce model that removes many of the labour protections, reporting mechanisms, and accountability systems available to workers in virtually every other regulated healthcare profession.

If therapist safety matters, then workforce structure matters.

If worker protection matters, then classification matters.

If accountability matters, then responsibility must follow control.

These are not separate conversations.

Over the past several months, the BC RMT Workforce Alliance has been examining these issues through contract analysis, workplace safety evidence, stakeholder outreach, practitioner experiences, and discussions with organizations across and beyond the profession.

The petition launched this week is one part of that effort.

It is focused on moving the conversation beyond awareness and toward concrete action on worker protections, workplace safety, accountability, transparency, and workforce sustainability.

I suspect most of us ultimately want the same outcome: a profession where practitioners are both protected and accountable; where safety concerns can be reported without fear; where due process is respected; and where responsibility for workplace risks is not simply transferred onto individual therapists.

We cannot advocate for practitioner safety while refusing to examine the workforce structures that leave practitioners exposed.

The profession has spent years studying these issues. The challenge is no longer identifying the problems.

The challenge is acting on what is already known.

The cost of inaction is already being paid by individual practitioners.

BC Federation of Labour Canadian Labour Congress - Congrès du travail du Canada

The dominant workforce model within massage therapy has normalized contractor classification to such a degree that meaningful employment pathways have effectively disappeared from the labour market.

As a result, many practitioners spend entire careers without access to:
• Employer-paid CPP contributions
• Employment Insurance eligibility
• Paid vacation
• Paid sick leave
• Maternity and parental leave protections
• Extended health and disability benefits
• Pension contributions
• Overtime protections
• Premium pay structures
• Career advancement opportunities
• Leadership pathways
• Safe reporting mechanisms
• Effective workforce representation

The profession has normalized a workforce model in which practitioners assume the risks and obligations of self-employment while clinics retain substantial operational control over the conditions under which work is performed.

At the same time, many clinics assume little or no responsibility for employer-paid benefits, Employment Insurance, CPP contributions, paid leave, workplace safety systems, labour protections, human resources functions, reporting mechanisms, or other obligations commonly associated with exercising that degree of workplace control.

Responsibility without control.

Control without accountability.

The result is a workforce model in which authority remains concentrated elsewhere while risk is disproportionately transferred to individual practitioners.

It is the separation of authority from responsibility and the transfer of risk onto practitioners.

Those exercising significant control over the work should not be insulated from responsibility for the consequences of that control.

Practitioners assume the financial, legal, professional, and personal risks of self-employment while often lacking access to labour protections, workplace safety mechanisms, reporting pathways, benefits, career advancement opportunities, and meaningful workforce representation.

This imbalance has become normalized.
It should not be.

Workforce classification is not solely a tax or business structure question. It directly influences access to labour protections, workplace safety systems, reporting pathways, accountability mechanisms, and practitioner supports.

The workforce structure and classification model influences access to protections, reporting systems, accountability pathways, and institutional responsibility for prevention, protection, and response when these risks occur within regulated healthcare environments.

When practitioners experience workplace violence, harassment, sexual violence, unsafe working conditions, environmental hazards, retaliation, or other workplace concerns, there is often no clear answer to fundamental questions:
Who is responsible?
Who investigates?
Who protects the worker?
Who is accountable?
The absence of clear answers is itself evidence of systemic failure.
The profession has spent years discussing individual incidents while failing to adequately examine the structures that produce them.

The time for acknowledgement has passed.
The time for action has arrived.
The cost of inaction is already being paid.

If you support BC RMTs, please read, share, and sign.

We need your support!

Stand with us as we fight for fairness, safety, and transparency in the workplace.


RMT Sexual Support Society Registered Massage Therapists' Association of Ontario Prince Edward Island Massage Therapy Association Remedial Massage Therapists Society of Manitoba Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan Prince Edward Island Massage Therapy Association NLMTA - Newfoundland Labrador Massage Therapists' Association Massage Therapists' Association of Nova Scotia RMT Jennifer

Sign the Petition BC RMT Workforce Alliance Declaration & Urgent Call To Action

Registered Massage Therapists' Association of Ontario Prince Edward Island Massage Therapy Association Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan Massage Therapists' Association of Nova Scotia Massage Therapist Association of Alberta Massage Therapy Association of Manitoba Inc. Remedial Massage Therapists Society of Manitoba NLMTA - Newfoundland Labrador Massage Therapists' Association Newfoundland Massage Therapy.

After months of research, stakeholder outreach, contract analysis, workforce safety advocacy, and discussions with practitioners across the profession, the BC RMT Workforce Alliance has released a Declaration and Call to Action.

The declaration addresses workforce safety, contractor classification, labour protections, safe reporting and anti-retaliation protections, governance accountability, professional silencing, and practitioner representation.

Many of these concerns have been discussed for years. The challenge is no longer identifying the problems. The challenge is acting on what is already known.

If these issues matter to you, I encourage you to read the declaration and consider adding your name in support.
The cost of inaction is already being paid.

Sign the Petition BC RMT Workforce Alliance Declaration & Urgent Call To Action

NEW JANE RESOURCE: Incident Reporting Template for Inappropriate Patient Conduct

In case you missed it, here is the webinar recording, Navigating Ambiguity: Sexual Boundary Management For RMTs with Josie DeLorme and the RMT Sexual Support Society, hosted by the Registered Massage Therapists' Association of Ontario.

Deep respect and appreciation for Josie’s time, energy, and generosity in sharing her teachings and practices, not just in the realm of advocacy for the profession and sexual safety, but also in decolonization and indigenous culture.

With immense gratitude for the extraordinary labour involved in the creating these resources - Thank you very much, hay ce:p q̓ə, səy̓eḿ, for sharing your knowledge, wisdom, and culture!

https://www.rmtao.com/resources/rmt-sexual-violence-resource-centre #

RMT Sexual Violence Resource Centre Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of Ontario

Emergency department violence is escalating and reflects a system-wide safety crisis.

A 2025 survey conducted for the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions found that 59% of healthcare workers experience workplace violence or abuse, and nearly 1 in 5 report sexual violence.

Violence in healthcare includes verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, physical assault, and sexual, emotional, and psychological harm.

CAEP's updated position statement outlines clear, evidence-informed strategies for prevention and mitigation.

Read the full position statement on violence mitigation: caep.ca/advocacy/position-statements

What happens when documented sexual harassment / sexual violence risks occur inside regulated healthcare practice environments operating within workforce structures where responsibility for prevention, reporting, protection, and response may be unclear or fragmented?

Contract Analysis Series for BC RMTs
Part 9C: Why Does This Matter for Regulatory and Workplace Oversight?

In many industries, workplace safety systems, labour standards, reporting obligations, and accountability structures are more clearly connected to established employment relationships.

But many RMT working arrangements operate within blended structures that may not fit neatly into traditional contractor or employee models.
Those are important considerations.

When responsibility for:
• workplace safety
• reporting pathways
• workload expectations
• operational oversight
• patient continuity
• and professional accountability
is distributed across multiple parties, it may become more difficult to determine where responsibility begins and ends.

This may affect:
• visibility into workplace conditions
• reporting behavior
• continuity of care
• access to records and documentation
• and the early identification of patient or workplace safety concerns

In healthcare systems, effective oversight depends on accurate visibility into risk, reporting, accountability, and patterns of concern.

Healthcare accountability systems function best when responsibility, authority, risk, and oversight pathways are clearly aligned.

The current RMT clinic model in BC may diffuse or fragment those relationships in ways that reduce visibility into workplace and patient safety concerns

As healthcare delivery models continue to evolve, these questions may warrant closer examination across regulatory, labour, and workplace safety frameworks.