A tentative contract has been reached for BC's 48-thousand hospital and long-term care workers.

Hospital Employees Union spokesperson Mike Old says the two-year deal protects wages and extended health benefits and expands options for workers affected by restructuring and privatization.

He says there is a compensation freeze for the entire public sector, so he says they had to go look at the agreement and make some "creative and reasonable choices".

The agreement covers about 270 different jobs in every area of health care.