This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
“This sham of a consultation was never designed to be more than just that, after all, the process was announced only AFTER the legislation was passed.” - HSABC President, Reid Johnson.
Vancouver (17 April 2013) – Following a consultation process that can only be described as a sham, B.C. Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid – on the day before the Liberal-led government dissolved – announced the enactment of legislation that dramatically changes the structure of collective bargaining in health care, said Reid Johnson, President of the Health Services Association of B.C.
“This announcement was all about timing to coincide with the B.C. Liberals’ election platform release that points only to their cozy relationship with the B.C. Nurses Union for evidence they understand the difficult and delicate balance in labour relations,” he said.
“And the legislation makes it absolutely clear that the B.C. Liberals do not understand either the legislation they rammed through, or the delicate nature of negotiations,” he said.
“To be clear, the legislation enacted today has absolutely nothing to do with the B.C. Nurses Union’s continuing campaign to transfer nurses from other unions to their own, as the B.C. Liberals seem to believe. That’s not the issue here. The issue here is that the delicate public sector collective bargaining structure has been turned on its head without any regard to the effect it has on the people whose collective agreement rights and conditions are covered by that structure.”
In the government’s news release about the enactment of the legislation, MacDiarmid says “consultations with a variety of stakeholders, including health employers and union groups, were held following royal assent.”
Johnson scoffed at the alleged consultation.
“Yes our union was summoned to a meeting. But at that meeting we expressed our need for time to be able to speak with our members, and for the need to have a proper investigation and understanding of the dramatic change in the bargaining structure. That’s not consultation. That’s a coffee date,” he said.
“This sham of a consultation was never designed to be more than just that, after all, the process was announced only AFTER the legislation was passed.”
Johnson said the most disturbing part about the legislation is that it was clearly designed for the B.C. Liberals to announce a victory to pander to the votes of B.C. Nurses Union politicians.
Last week the B.C. Nurses Union threatened that if the B.C. Liberal government did not pass the legislation, the B.C. Liberals “would risk losing support of those people.”
The bargaining structure that was in place before today came about in the late 1990s after almost a year of extensive consultation with all affected parties – not just one union that had a promise it wanted to deliver.
“Today’s announcement is a cynical political move, and Margaret MacDiarmid demonstrates, once again, why the B.C. Liberals’ time is up. The time for governing by rhetoric and photo op is over,” Johnson said.
HSABC/NUPGE represents 1200 registered psychiatric nurses who are covered by the Nurses Bargaining Association collective agreement.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 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