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July 20, 2001
Health Employers’ Association of BC
#200 - 1333 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
V6H 4C6
Attention: Joanne Arnold
Dear Sirs/Mesdames:
We have been advised that HEABC has sent out materials to it’s member employers which include draft letters to BCNU shop stewards and advice to employers to meet with shop stewards directing them to order union members to report to work. We understand at least one employer has issued a letter to a steward and demanded a reply within 24 hours.
These actions make it clear that you do not understand the role of shop stewards. Shop stewards are designates of the union and part of the Union administrative structure which is protected in part by the unfair labour practice provisions of the Labour Relations Code. They are not agents or tools of the employer to be directed by the employer in their dealings with union members. In fact the requirement that unions be independent of employers means the employer is not legally entitled to direct stewards in the conduct of their union activities. You must realize the employer has no capacity to order stewards to take any particular communication to the union’s members. Steward communications with union members are the exclusive domain of the union.
You should also be advised the union does not recognize any unilateral right on the part of the employer to require responses from union officers, employees or stewards to employer correspondence. Neither the stewards nor the union will respond to any employer correspondence based on unilateral employer deadlines. As always, the union will consider correspondence from the employer and respond as and when it sees fit.
Yours truly,
British Columbia Nurses Union
Anne Harvey
Chief Operating Officer
c: BCNU Council
BCNU Stewards
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