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"The B.C. Nurses' Union leadership has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to wrestle members out of other unions. iI's hurting the relationship between health care professionals and it's wasting the dues provided by hard-working nurses." — Val Avery, President of HSABC
Vancouver (13 April 2016) — The Health Sciences Association of B.C. (HSABC/NUPGE) and the Professional Employees Association (PEA), the two unions that represent psychologists and psychometrists in B.C.'s public health care system, welcome the Labour Relations Board (LRB) decision to deny the B.C. Nurses' Union (BCNU) application to further destabilize labour relations in B.C.'s hospitals.
B.C. labour board rules against the BC Nurses Union
The LRB dismissed BCNU's recent application to move some psychologists and psychometrists (testing technicians) into their union — a practice known as raiding. The raiding application followed a continued campaign by BCNU to grow its membership by poaching members from other unions.
"The BC Nurses' Union leadership has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to wrestle members out of other unions," said HSA President Val Avery. "It's hurting the relationship between health care professionals and it's wasting the dues provided by hard-working nurses."
"Today's decision is a strong message that the BCNU's latest raiding tactics will not be tolerated. This ruling provides stability in the health sector and will ultimately result in better patient care," said Scott McCannell, PEA executive director.
BCNU raids disrupt labour relations across the province
The Labour Relations Board found that the application by the B.C. Nurses' Union would result in a proliferation of unions representing health science professionals in the health care system, which would serve to disrupt rather than improve labour relations representation for health care workers at the worksite.
"I have been a member of B.C.'s health care team for more than 30 years. As HSABC's president, my focus is on ensuring that team is supported so that they can best serve the patients who count on them every day, instead of defending against another union's predatory organizing tactics that do absolutely nothing to support the more than 70 per cent of working people in B.C. who do not have the advantage of the support a union contract provides," Avery said.
"We want to thank the other health care unions who serve members in B.C.'s health care system — HEU, CUPE and BCGEU/NUPGE — for intervening in this case, and supporting our two unions' work to uphold labour relations practices that promote stable and effective union representation in the public health care system," Avery added.
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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 360,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE