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December 19, 2001
Employment Security Key Target for BC Liberals
Legislated contract rollback would help government cut services by laying off workers quickly. Nurses would lose access to specialty training. Especially hard hit would be nurses in smaller communities when facilities are cut or closed
Despite Gordon Campbell’s promise to respect collective agreements, BC’s Liberal government seems poised to strip away employment security and contracting out protection out from health care workers’ contracts early in the New Year.
The Minister of Health, the Minister of Labour and the Premier have all made statements in the last three weeks, criticizing the "inflexibility" of union contracts, decrying the fact that regular employees get one year’s employment security, and complaining that union contracts will make it expensive for them to privatize health care and freeze health care spending.
Now the rumour is that the government may legislate these rollbacks to our contracts as early as January 7 or 8, when it is anticipated they will legislate a contract on teachers that includes rollbacks.
If employment security is taken out of our contract, the Health Labour Adjustment Agency likely will be axed as well. This would mean there would no longer be provincial funding for training for specialty nurses, and BC employers would rely on attracting specialty nurses from other provinces and countries, instead of training BC graduates.
The loss of employment security would also hit nurses in small communities very hard, because it is anticipated there are going to be facility closures in small communities throughout the province starting in February and going through to the summer.
Senior nurses who do not want to bump to other programs or to move to other communities would also be hard hit if their worksite is one of those targeted for closure.
HEU members would also be hard hit by the removal of contracting out and employment security protection. A senior health region manager said last week that the new regions expect to save money by regionalizing purchasing, and other services provided by support workers. Without employment security these workers would be laid off quickly.
If the government brings in legislation early in January, teachers in 71 communities around the province will be organizing demonstrations at their MLA’s offices. BCNU is asking stewards and members to join in these demonstrations, along with HEU, members to show our anger at the government’s legislated rollbacks to union contracts. For more information, contact your BCNU steward or regional chair.
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