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Updated: BCNU cozying up to BC Liars urging them to sign nursing bill (bill 18)

J529

By J529
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J529 Canucks Regular

J529

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Right now, the Christy Clark Liberals are trying to pass legislation restructuring bargaining in the health sector. Bill 18 would change the membership of the Facilities Bargaining Association and the Community Health Bargaining Association by transferring LPNs to another bargaining unit.

Bill 18 would transfer more than 1400 HEU LPNs who work in long-term care facilities, some hospitals, and in the community.

No consultation

Bill 18 was introduced without any prior consultation with HEU despite its impact on the collective agreement rights of our members and on the delivery of health care.

We’ve been here before.

When the B.C. Liberals rammed through Bill 29 in 2002, they did so with no consultation.

Five years later, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that this lack of consultation amounted to a violation of your constitutional rights.

Now they’re doing it again.

No good reason

The Clark government says the only reason for Bill 18 is because of BCNU’s raid on HEU and other unions.

But Bill 18 impacts the negotiated collective agreement rights of many workers who are not BCNU members, and will have widespread impacts on the delivery of care.

No Bill 18

Tell government it needs to withdraw Bill 18, and consult with unions before proposing such fundamental changes – not after.

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J529 Canucks Regular

J529

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Typical BC Liars breaking the law yet again. And the BCNU once again raiding other unions. Not the first time they've done it and certainly won't be the last. I have no respect for BCNU. Waste of time sending a message to Health Minister. Send her and BC Liars a message on Election Day and boot them out of office. BCNU are mostly BC Liars supporters which explains the recent event Health Minister she spoke at. In addition to the long-term contact Christy wants them to sign. BCNU has and always will be ultimate opportunists.

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

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There is a back story to this that seems to be missing from the OP. This is an inter union dispute over who will represent nurses who have voted to leave HEU and switch to BCNU as their bargaining representative. Such things are frowned upon by the BC NDP.

These nurses voted to come over to the BCNU per the BC Labour Code that allows groups to change their bargaining association and the NDP is scandalized by this action. Also the BCNU has been condemned by both the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress accusing the BCNU of "raiding" the HEU.

This was NOT imposed by the BC Liberals.

Bill 18 is being passed to expand the definition of nurse to include LPN's under the Health Authority Act to give effect to the democratic will of these nurses who voted to leave HEU and join the BC Nurses Union.

One of the main reasons for the change voted on by the LPNS is that unlike other members of HEU, LPNs operate under a professional college regulating their practise as with Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses

Also the HEU is an integral part of Dix's power base in the public sector union movement sp you can expect the BC NDP will do all inits power to stay on board with its power base.

Here is the Bill in its entirety:

BILL 18 — 2013

HEALTH AUTHORITIES AMENDMENT ACT, 2013

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 19.1 of the Health Authorities Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 180, is amended in the definition of "nurse" by striking out "an enactment" and substituting "the Health Professions Act" and by striking out "or as a registered psychiatric nurse" and substituting ", licensed practical nurse or registered psychiatric nurse".

Commencement

2 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Vaughn Palmer sets out the background and what is going on that has resulted in this minor amendment to the language in the Health Authorities Act.

When the invitation arrived at the Opposition offices for Adrian Dix to attend this year’s convention of the B.C. Nurses’ Union, it presented the New Democratic Party leader with a bit of a dilemma.

The would-be premier has taken most opportunities to talk to business groups over the past two years and with major trade union gatherings, he’s either gone himself or sent a high-profile representative.

The nurses have often been on the same side of health care concerns as the New Democrats. For instance, recently both blasted the B.C. Liberals for neglecting to fund a promised 2,000 additional nursing positions in their three-year budget and fiscal plan.

But all that was secondary to one overreaching concern for the New Democrats, namely that the BCNU was an outcast in the provincial labour movement.

The union had successfully persuaded nurses in the rival Hospital Employees’ Union to switch their membership in a vote conducted under the provisions of the labour code. Now it was trying to recruit nurse-members of other public sector unions as well.

Though legal and democratic, within the church of labour, where picket lines are sacrosanct and solidarity forever is a hymn, raiding is regarded as original sin, making the nurses the closest thing to heretics.

Dix was not willing to address a union that had been condemned by both the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress. Nor were the New Democrats prepared to send another MLA to speak in place of the leader.

So when some 400 delegates representing 40,000 nurses (including the 7,200 licensed practical nurses who voted to come over from the HEU) gathered in Vancouver last week, the Opposition was a no-show in any official capacity.

Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid did attend and was rewarded with multiple ovations. Among other things, the delegates hailed her government’s tabling of a piece of legislation that would further the process of consolidating nurses into one big union, albeit without any prior consultation with the other affected unions.

But Dix decided not to attend the nurses’ convention well before the Liberals made that hasty legislative move, and he did so strictly because of BCNU poaching on the membership of unions.

“The raid is ongoing, and we were concerned about that,” he told me Monday when I asked about his decision to boycott the BCNU convention. Why concerned? “Well, there is a concern about the disruptions that it brings.”

He assured me that if the New Democrats win the election, they would seek to establish a businesslike relationship with the nurses’ union, which is not to say that he’d ever be on speaking terms with the delegates at their convention.

Nor could Dix claim that he was simply trying to remain neutral in the nurses’ recruitment drive.

For he did accept an invitation to address the HEU convention in Vancouver late last year and there, to a couple of standing ovations, called on members to support the NDP and help “bring the change we need in B.C.”

In return, Dix embraced the union’s opposition to contracting out of jobs in health care facilities, which has resulted in the layoff of union members and their replacement by contract employees.

Citing the pending layoffs at a residential care facility in Burnaby, Dix said: “Some of those employees have been there 30 years and more ... I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we should let that stand.”

He vowed to restore hospital employees’ successorship rights, legislated out of existence by the Liberals during their first year in office.

Dix is closely tied to the HEU. Judy Darcy, the union’s formidable president, backed his leadership bid, then stepped down to become a candidate in New Westminster, one of the safest seats for New Democrats. If Dix forms government, she’ll likely be on the short list for a cabinet position.

http://www.vancouver...l#ixzz2NI8huJ47

I am unsure how this got spun as something the BC Liberals have done other than to give effect to a legal and democratic vote of the LPNs who voted to leave the HEU and join the BCNU.

This legislation was introduced at the request of the nurses and Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said nurses have asked for legislation that would reclassify licensed practical nurses so all nurses are in one association for bargaining purposes. Licensed practical nurses are currently part of a bargaining association with other hospital support staff including care aides, whose standards are not upheld by a college under the Health Professions Act. "I understand why they want it," MacDiarmid said of a change in legislation.

It seems there has been consultation - with the nurses who are actually affected and who voted to leave HEU for the BC Nurses Union under the provisions of the BC Labour Code allowing for such actions.

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J529 Canucks Regular

J529

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Nurses today delivered six gigantic postcards covered with voters’ signatures to the provincial Cabinet office in downtown Vancouver, urging the government to do the right thing to improve health care in BC by signing Bill 18 into law.

Bill 18 expands the definition of “nurse” to include Licensed Practical Nurses. It would improve the delivery of healthcare by including LPNs in the same contract as /topic/343300-bcnu-cozying-up-to-bc-liars-urging-them-to-sign-nursing-bill-bill-18-into-law/#">registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses.

“It makes things smooth, seamless and efficient. It’s what health employers have been advocating for years,” Debra McPherson, president of the BC Nurses’ Union told reporters. “There is no reason for the government to delay and every reason to finish the job.”

Last year LPNs voted decisively /topic/343300-bcnu-cozying-up-to-bc-liars-urging-them-to-sign-nursing-bill-bill-18-into-law/#">to join BCNU and leave unions that represent healthcare support staff. In March the Liberal government confirmed that democratic choice of nurses by introducing and passing Bill 18 in the Legislature.

“We were very pleased the government passed Bill 18. Now we want them to take the last step and sign an Order-in-Council to bring it into force,” said Jonathan Karmazinuk who was elected by LPNs in the Fraser Health Authority to represent them on the BCNU’s top governing body. LPN Marlene Goertzen who represents LPNs from the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority said the postcard signatures came from voters on the streets in Christy Clark’s riding this week. “There was lots of public support for nurses and for bringing all nurses together under Bill 18.”

The employers’ own bargaining agent long argued for including all nurses under the same bargaining umbrella to maximize efficiencies for quality patient care. In a brief to the provincial government in 2001, the Health Employers’ Association of BC said “Employees performing similar functions with similar competencies working at the same employer should be governed by the terms of the Nurses’ Provincial Collective Agreement.”

McPherson criticized health authority CEOs for trying to stop the change. “Some of their hospitals scored a D in the recent /topic/343300-bcnu-cozying-up-to-bc-liars-urging-them-to-sign-nursing-bill-bill-18-into-law/#">CBC study because they don’t have enough nurses able to practice to the best of their ability. Health authorities are supposed to be working to improve healthcare, not playing politics by undermining a measure that would make healthcare better.”

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J529 Canucks Regular

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McPherson is scared, cozying up and being buddy buddy with Christy and company in attempt to get this through prior to the election, because she knows if NDP /topic/343300-bcnu-cozying-up-to-bc-liars-urging-them-to-sign-nursing-bill-bill-18-into-law/#">win and takes power, it won't be going through. NDP has blacklisted BCNU for raiding HEU. I had to laugh when saw this on news and McPherson said that BC Nurses are "overworked" and "unvalued". Umm. Excuse me. You've gotten how many recent pay raises. Try having your wages rolled back 15% like HEU did. The two whiniest unions who cry, moan and bitch about being so hard done by are BCNU and BCTF.

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EmployeeoftheMonth Canucks Second-Line

EmployeeoftheMonth

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McPherson is scared, cozying up and being buddy buddy with Christy and company in attempt to get this through prior to the election, because she knows if NDP /topic/343300-bcnu-cozying-up-to-bc-liars-urging-them-to-sign-nursing-bill-bill-18-into-law/#">win and takes power, it won't be going through. NDP has blacklisted BCNU for raiding HEU. I had to laugh when saw this on news and McPherson said that BC Nurses are "overworked" and "unvalued". Umm. Excuse me. You've gotten how many recent pay raises. Try having your wages rolled back 15% like HEU did. The two whiniest unions who cry, moan and bitch about being so hard done by are BCNU and BCTF.

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I don't understand why some people are against LPNs joining BCNU...

Maybe I am just being naive or ignorant, but doesn't it make sense to have RNs, RPNs, and LPNs in the same union?

How is having LPNs in the same union as support workers (who are obviously an significant part of our health care system) beneficial???

Honestly, I think ALL nurses should be in represented by one union.

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EmployeeoftheMonth Canucks Second-Line

EmployeeoftheMonth

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I don't understand why some people are against LPNs joining BCNU...

Maybe I am just being naive or ignorant, but doesn't it make sense to have RNs, RPNs, and LPNs in the same union?

How is having LPNs in the same union as support workers (who are obviously an significant part of our health care system) beneficial???

Honestly, I think ALL nurses should be in represented by one union.

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

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I don't understand why some people are against LPNs joining BCNU...

Maybe I am just being naive or ignorant, but doesn't it make sense to have RNs, RPNs, and LPNs in the same union?

How is having LPNs in the same union as support workers (who are obviously an significant part of our health care system) beneficial???

Honestly, I think ALL nurses should be in represented by one union.

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