BURNABY, B.C. — British Columbia's nearly 44,000 members of the Hospital Employees Union have rated a three-year contract agreement.

The union says its members voted 89 per cent in favour of the deal that gives its members health, safety and compensation improvements, along with job security.

Union secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside says the agreement restores contracting-out protections that were taken away by the former B.C. Liberal government in 2002.

Whiteside says in a news release that the agreement means health-care workers will be safer and their jobs will be more secure.

The union says the agreement gives workers a general wage increase of six per cent and entry-level wages will be raised by phasing out lower steps in the wage grid.

The contract covers a range of workers in hospitals, long-term care facilities, corporate offices, supply warehouses and health clinics.