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July 10, 1998
Casualization the main focus at latest bargaining talks
Casualization was the main issue again during the latest round of talks at the Nurses' Association bargaining table (July 6-8). More than 20 percent of current nursing hours are worked by casual employees, as compared with 16 per cent of hours for HEU members. For nurses, the number of casual hours has climbed five per cent during the last five years, while the number of hours worked by full-time employees has plummeted by eight per cent
To address this concern, HEABC is agreeing to establish float pools of regular employees to provide vacation and sick leave relief where this is cost effective. However employers have rejected a union proposal for the conversion of casual positions to regular positions wherever the work can be proved to be of an ongoing nature.
As an additional solution to this growing level of casualization, the unions in the Nurses Bargaining Association (BCNU, HSA and the UPN) are arguing that casuals who post into project work, vacation relief, or relief for maternity, WCB or LTD leaves receive the status of and benefits of regular employees for the duration of the temporary posting. HEABC is prepared to agree to give regular status to casuals filling temporary vacation relief and project positions, but not for those filling maternity, LTD or WCB relief positions.
Equalizing Contract Provisions for Community and Long Term Care Nurses The unions made it clear to HEABC this week, that community and long term care nurses are not prepared to be at the "back of the bus" in Section Two of the collective agreement (the Continuing Care Component). The unions insist that the inferior language of Section Two will have to be brought up to the same level as provisions covering hospital nurses for an agreement on a new contract to be reached.
We pointed out that there can be no rationale for long term care and community nurses to have inferior posting language, inferior working hours language, and longer probationary periods.
Employer Must Provide Computerized Data
The nurses association has also presented proposals asking HEABC to give computerized membership information to the unions so that administration can be streamlined and the unions can have accurate membership information. For example, unions need to know where members work, their employee status, their classification, and their address. Some of this information is already provided to other unions, but HEABC has been advising employers to refuse this information to BCNU. They suggest instead that BCNU survey members individually every month. This would inevitably be very costly for the union.
Whistle Blowing
The unions also put forward a proposal for the protection of nurses who publicly raise issues about the provision of health care. Several nurses who have raised quality care issues during the last two years have been threatened with professional discipline or termination by managers who did not want the issues to be made public. We have asked HEABC to put language into the collective agreement to prevent these kinds of threats in the future.
Home Support Nurses
Working conditions and employee status for home support nurses were scheduled to be discussed at the bargaining table this week, but the management representative for home support was not available. Talks on these issues have been rescheduled for July 21.
Discussions on Deferred Salary Leave Plan and Flextime Hours of Work Next Week
HEABC is to return to the table next week with responses to the unions' proposals to establish a deferred salary leave plan and to clarify the conditions around flextime hours of work.
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