Arbitrator Rules that New Elections Will Not be Required

November 17, 2017

The BCNU Provincial Nominations Committee is an independent body that is elected at convention and is made up of working nurses. Their job is to solely look at whether candidates follow the rules and guidelines during a BCNU election.

In May of this year, the Provincial Nominations Committee made the decision to remove Will Offley, Sharon Sharp and Mary Jean Lyth, who were running for the positions of President, Vice President and Treasurer respectively, from the ballot. This decision was challenged and ultimately referred to arbitration.

Following a number of days of arbitration, November 7, 2017, Arbitrator Tom Hodges issued an interim decision in which he ruled that new elections for the positions of President, Vice President and Treasurer will not be required. Reasons and a final decision on all outstanding issues are to follow.

As a result of this decision the successful candidates for the positions of BCNU President, Vice President and Treasurer remain acclaimed.

An election will go ahead before the end of the year to fill two outstanding executive councillor positions which had been previously postponed. The decision to postpone was pursuant to a consent award issued by the Labour Relations Board in response to a member's challenge of their right to participate in the election.

BCNU remains committed to ensuring its values of democracy are adhered to moving forward.

More information on the upcoming election will become available in the coming weeks.