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July 5, 2002
LRB decision increases vacancy and bumping options for displaced nurses
HEABC is appealing the ruling, but the employer agrees to attend mediation later this month to determine how the decision will be implemented
In a major victory for BCNU and other health care unions, the Labour Relations Board has ruled that displaced employees should have options to access vacancies and bumping rights that are health authority-wide.
HEABC announced July 4 that it will appeal the ruling, but has agreed to attend mediation sessions at the LRB July 10, 11 and 12 to determine how the decision will be implemented and applied in the Nurses’ Bargaining Association. The ruling declares that the new Health Authorities - which were established by the Campbell government last December - are the successors to the former Regional Health Boards and Community Health Councils. As such, they are the true, legal employers of employees in the health sector.
In making that determination, the LRB declared that it has the jurisdiction to adjust seniority along health authority lines. But before they do so, they ordered the Nurses’ Bargaining Association and HEABC to sit down with a mediator and work out how worksite seniority lists should be merged for the purposes of "ameliorating the impact of the elimination or movement of services, programs, functions, jobs and employees..."
If the two sides cannot agree by July 31, the LRB will decide how to dovetail seniority lists.
The ruling says that "employees who are transferred or who apply for positions and are ultimately successful in obtaining them should be able to port their seniority and service dates and carry with them their hard-earned benefits, such as vacation leave, sick leave, and pension. There is no reason to treat them as new employees where they are essentially doing the work they have always done, but at another location."
For the complete text of the LRB decision chick here.
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